Love is a Knight-mare
by DravynLeCrux
Summary: Ruby Rose a young girl admitted into the prestigious Beacon Academy two years ahead of time due to her awesome combat ability and infamously dangerous weapon. Jaune Arc, a bumbling and almost comical young man who seems out of place among all of the great warriors in this school for combat geniuses. How will these two socially awkward teen Hunters interact? Rose Arc shipping.
1. Prologue

** *Hey there. As I've been reading a lot of the fics people write, I notice most pairings are either Ruby and Weiss, Blake and Yang, or Jaune and Pyrrah. Reading about these bored me after a while. So I'm gonna do a little story including my favorite pairing, Ruby and Jaune. I hope you all like it. If it's well received, I may do another chapter.***

** *This story is going to go back to the very beginning, around episode 2 or so. Sorry if this bugs anyone.***

_So, I defend a small dust shop owner, defeat a notorious criminal, and I get rewarded by being allowed to skip 2 years and enter Beacon Academy, the school of my dreams. But if this is a reward, why do I feel so miserable? _These were the thoughts of one Ruby Rose.

Small in stature, only around 5 ft. 6 in. tall, and possessing the most striking silver eyes ever, this was Ruby. Wearing a black one piece dress with red frills and a red-stringed corset, as well as black stockings, black and red-laced combat boots, and wearing a rose-red cape, this young girl looked like she belonged in a snowy forest somewhere, rather than on an airship.

Now, the reason for her discomfort? A certain young, blonde man in a black hoodie and simple armor had just thrown up all over her beautiful boots. And she had just gotten these as a present from her father for her acceptance to Beacon! Normally, letting things go was Ruby's style. It took a lot to anger or perturb her. But throwing up all over her new boots? This was horrible.

"Hey sis! I got you a towel and some water. Let's clean these babies up! I don't want my baby sister looking bad for her first day of Beacon!" Arriving with a bucket of water and a towel was Ruby's half sister, Yang Xiao Long. Leaning down, while still trying to maintain her distance from the vomit, she gently began to help her sister wash her boots.

Now, despite being sisters, Yang and Ruby had different names. This was due to Ruby's father having married Yang's mother, Ruby having had a different one. This also explained the difference in their looks. While Ruby had red hair so dark one could almost confuse it for black, Yang had bright and curly golden locks. Inherited from her mother of course. As was her western style of dress and last name.

After wiping the last of the puke off of Ruby's shoe, the two proceeded to the nearest window to 'Oooh' and 'Aaah' at all of the sights they could before the ship touched down at Beacon Academy.

Getting off the ship was, in and of itself, a chore. Due to all of the students rushing to get off, the traffic was quite heavy, and Ruby was immediately lost in the crowd. After a while, the crowd dissipated and Ruby and Yang managed to reunite.

"Geez, what is with these people! The could have killed you!"

"Calm down Yang. I'm fine. And it's no worse than what Vomit Boy did to me on the ship. Just, deactivate Ember Celica and chill out Yang."

Finally relaxing, Yang and Ruby had started towards the Academy's entrance when a few of the students had piqued Ruby's interest. Or rather, their weapons had.

"Oooh. Oooh! That girl had a collapsible staff! And that's a fire sword! Ohhhh!" Yup, Ruby was, without a doubt, the biggest weapon otaku in all of Vale. After all, she had designed and built a weapon so complex and vicious that even Grim became wary when it was pulled out.

"Whoa whoa! Calm down there little sis. They're just weapons." Said the older one, as she grabbed her sister during her little "chibi fangirl" moment.

"Just weapons? Just weapons?! Yang, they're a part of us. They're an extension of who we are. A huntress is only at her best with a good weapon."

"Why can't you just be happy with your own weapon?"

Unfurling the six and a half foot long, bright-red and black scythe from it's gun form, Ruby hugged Crescent Rose close to her. "But I am happy with Crescent Rose. I just like seeing new weapons. It's like meeting new people, but better."

And to Ruby, it was better. Few friends to even speak of back at her old school, Signal Academy. And none to speak of yet at Beacon. With her sorely lacking social skills, holding a conversation that didn't include weapons at one point or another was nearly impossible for her with a stranger.

***After a small string of events, including Yang ditching Ruby, Ruby falling on some crabby girls luggage, said crabby girl waving a phial of (poorly sealed) dust around in her face, causing a small explosion of fire, a-and I think some ice?, and getting on her bad side, we find our heroine downcast and lying in the middle of the road.***

"Welcome to Beacon, huh? What a great start to my new school life." Lying on your back in the middle of a street after having annoyed quite possibly one of the richest girls in Vale is definitely not a good way to start your first year at school.

As Ruby was contemplating dying Yang's hair black again (consequences be damned this time!) for ditching her, a shadow eclipsed her head. Opening her eyes, she saw a hand above her. Following the arm to it's owner, she found a young man. Bright blonde hair, and electric blue eyes that seemed to be carved from sapphire.

"Need a hand? Oh, I'm Jaune, by the way."

Feeling a faint blush come up from having been seen in such at such an embarrassing time, Ruby accepted the young mans hand. "Ruby." she introduced herself.

*Giggle* "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

"Listen. All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on. It seriously hinders my ability to travel." For the past few minutes, the boy, Jaune as he introduced himself, was talking about his motion sickness and how much of an issue it is.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. But Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"Well, what if I called you Crater Face?" countered Jaune.

"Hey, that explosion was an accident. It wasn't even my fault." Ruby was complaining. And it wasn't her fault either. The ghostly-white heiress hadn't even taken the proper precautions and sealed her dust the right way.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

Ruby felt, after listening to him for so long, that she deserved the chance to tease him. So she responded, with a small grin, cutely raised eyebrow, and with a short, concise "Do they?"

"W-well, they will! Or at least, I hope they will. I-I mean, my mom always said that- err, nevermind."

After that, the conversation kinda got a bit awkward. It seemed to Ruby that Jaune didn't quite have any social skills either. Carrying on a conversation was getting a bit awkward. But Ruby felt she had the perfect topic for students at Beacon. Pulling Crescent Rose out from the sheathe on her back and allowing it to unfold in all of it's mechanical sniper rifle/scythe glory, she planted it, business end, down into the concrete.

"Sooo~ I got this thing."

"H-holy- Whoa! I-is that a-a scythe?" At this point, Jaune had become noticeably freaked out. Then again, anyone facing this monster of a weapon would have a similar reaction.

"Yup! It's also a fully customizable, high impact sniper rifle!"

"A wha-?"

"It's also a gun"

"Oh."

This made Ruby giggle a bit. She found it interesting that this boy, who had come to a school for huntsmen and huntressess, didn't even seem to know what a sniper rifle was. Or maybe he did, and was just caught off guard. Either way, Ruby found herself enjoying his company. I suppose this means I've made a friend here at Beacon. No thanks to my good-for-nothing older sister. I swear, to ditch me! Her cute, younger sister! She is so owing me a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

"So uh, Ruby?"

"Yes Jaune?" she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. After they'd already spoken about so much, she wondered where else he could take this conversation. What she didn't expect, was his response.

"Where are we supposed to be going?"

". . . . ." " . . . . ."

Ohhhh boy, here we go. Now we've done it. But I guess this isn't too bad. I suppose hanging around Jaune was fun.

** *Author's Note***

** *Well, here ya go. My little story. Sorry if it's a bit slow for some of you. I've never written Romance before. But again, if enough people want me to, I'd be more than glad to continue the story. But if RubyxJaune isn't something you like, please don't leave comments bashing it. To each their own, right? Anyhow, I look foreword to constructive criticism.***


	2. Rose Maiden

***Author's Note* *There was some problems with the first Chapter, and some of the fonts wouldn't change. Some of the parts are supposed to be italicized to show that they were Ruby's thoughts. No matter how much I tried, the thing wouldn't come out right. I even re-uploaded it 3 times to be sure. Oh well.***

** *So, here I am with chapter 2. The thoughts about this were buzzing in my head after an all nighter RWBY marathon, coupled with about 3 cans of Monster. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it.***

_So, after being made to run around all of the school, we finally find the gathering hall. And my_ dear sister Yang_ is nowhere to be found. Ugh! First she runs off and leaves me in this strange place all by myself, then doesn't even have the decency to meet me here._

"Whoa Ruby. Large crowd, huh? Know anyone here?" Jaune had asked Ruby. Having noticed the smaller girl's slight change in expression, he interpreted that as nervousness. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Jaune had tried to engage her in small talk.

Boy, was he wrong.

"Yeah, there _should_ be someone waiting for me." This was said with something akin to hostility. But after being ditched, and with her sister making no attempt to find her in this large crowd, Ruby was getting annoyed. She knew her sister could be irresponsible, but after the events on the air ship, and her explosive meeting with the Schnee family heiress, she was in a bad mood.

"Err Ruby, are you okay? You seem a little uhhh, angry?" At this point, Jaune was getting noticeably worried.

"Huh? Oh n-no, I'm fine Jaune, really!" Noticing that her anger was showing, Ruby quickly tried to reign in her temper. It seems to have worked too, as Jaune calmed down.

"Oh. So Ruby, who were you supposed to meet?"

"Oh, just my big sister, Yang. She's very outgoing, and is very popular with guys."

"No friends you want to see from your old school here? Or did they maybe not get accepted into Beacon?" And with this, Jaune had realized he said the wrong thing. After mentioning friends, Ruby's look kinda grew a bit somber. She looked regretful, and kind of sad.

"No. No friends here. I was moved up two years to enter Beacon early."

". . . . ."

"Wait, two years?! D-does that mean that you're only fifteen? You're fifteen and you made it into Beacon Academy?!" At this point, a few of the people around them turned to Jaune and Ruby, wondering what was going on.

"Shh shh shh shhhhhhhh! Not so loud!" Desperate to avoid standing out, Ruby tried to hush Jaune. After succeeding, they moved further into the hall.

After a few more minutes of walking around, and talking about random subjects like weapons and motion sickness and her big sister Yang, Ruby and Jaune were starting to get along better._ He may be a bit awkward, and his fighting skill seems to be questionable, but Jaune seems rather nice. Friendly. And he's quite the gentleman, although he seems to be a bit too strung up on his mother._

"Heeey! Ruby! Over here, I saved you a spot!" Calling to Ruby was her big sister Yang. Easily noticeable with her rather womanly charm and bright gold hair, she was waving Ruby over with a fervor.

"Sorry Jaune, it seems my big sister is calling me over."

"Will I get a chance to see you again, Ruby?"

"Don't worry Jaune. We'll catch up later, after the opening ceremony."

Rushing over to her older sister, Ruby left behind the young man and got beside her sister.

"Yang, how could you just leave me like that? Do you know what happened when you left? I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and I exploded!"

"Aww, melt down already?"

"No, I mean I literally exploded a hole in front of the school. A-and there was some fire, and I think some ice? Anyhow, bottom line, I was in trouble! And who helped me? Not my big sister! Not, it was some mysterious girl with cat like eyes and this really cute bow."

"Err, Ruby? Are you being sarcastic?"

"Uggh, I wish."

***After a ceremony, wherein the "crabby girl" from before made her reappearance like some kind of evil shark, the headmaster gave a small speech that seemed out of sorts for him, and being instructed to gather in the main hall later for the night, Ruby and the rest went to the mess hall to for dinner***

"Look Rubes, I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know all of that would happen when I left you alone? I thought you'd find some like minded people and make some friends."

"Well, you didn't even have to leave me alone in the first place!"

Yes, Ruby and Yang were still at it. After filling up their plates; spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs, and a large slice of chocolate cake for Yang, and a large amount of cookies and a bowl of strawberries for Ruby, they had taken a seat and began the argument all over again. As Ruby began to reach her breaking point, and considered giving her sister a new hair style a la strawberry milkshake, a familiar face decided to show up and interrupt.

"Hey Ruby. Mind if I take a seat here? All of the other tables are filled up."

"Oh, hi Jaune! Sure, sure. Sit down. We have plenty of space here." Ruby was pleasantly surprised at the entrance of her new friend Jaune.

"Hey Ruby. Who is this?"

"Right, you haven't really been introduced yet. Yang, this is my new friend, Jaune. And Jaune, this is my older sister, Yang." Ruby introduced her new found friend to her older sister, unaware that she had just unleashed a monster.

"Wait, aren't you the guy that threw up on my little sister?"

"Can we please just forget that ever happened. Please? I'm already sorry enough." Seems like Ruby wasn't the only one having a hard first day at Beacon.

"Alright, fine. So, what's your relationship with my little sister? Friend, or maybe _boyfriend?!_"

"Whoa whoa what?!" Ruby and Jaune cried simultaneously. Now, if there's anything Yang loves more than her own hair, it's mercilessly teasing her baby sister.

_Ooooh boy_, thought Yang,_ this is going to be so much fun! I never expected Ruby to give me so much ammo. The next few years here are going to be so much fun_. All while having this little inner monologue, Yang started to grin. A vicious cheshire-like grin that showed her true nature.

"Y-Y-Yang! It's not like that! Jaune is just a friend. A friend!"

"W-wait, hold on! I don't feel that way about Ruby! How could I?"

Ruby was beginning to look like her precious scythe, going all crimson to match her black one-piece combat dress. She was even blushing all the way to her roots. _Waaahh, Yang! Why must you do this? _

After causing a little more mischief and finishing off her spaghetti, Yang excused herself to go wash up, leaving Ruby and Jaune sitting together at the table. Both were still a little embarrassed, and neither could really look the other straight in the eye still.

"So", began Ruby, trying to break the awkward atmosphere, "that was a thing, huh? Well, I'm sorry about Yang. She's always had a bit merciless in her teasing. Just ignore her and she'll quit after a while."

"Oh no Ruby, it's fine. It's fine."

_Great, it's still awkward. Gee, thanks a lot Yang!_ Quickly finishing her cookies and strawberries, Ruby excused herself from the table and Jaune. Jaune just sat there, face still a little pink, finishing off the last of his cheeseburger. Ruby felt a little guilty just leaving him, and glanced back at his figure, sitting alone at the table.

_So, first day at Beacon. Got puked on by Jaune, shouted at twice by a mean ice queen, and have been teased to oblivion by Yang. I wonder if this could possibly get any worse. Well, maybe I shouldn't think that. I mean, I'm not the_ only_ one having a rough first day at Beacon. I _can't_ be the only one having a rough first day. _

_** ***_**And that does it for chapter 2. Sorry if this is going a bit too slowly for some. I'm trying not to progress too fast, but that might irritate some of the more impatient people. If you find this to be an issue, let me know and I'll try to speed it up a bit. Otherwise, read, enjoy, and please leave some constructive criticism if you want. Suggestions are also welcome.***

** *Thanks for reading. I'll try to have chapter 3 out soon. I have quite a bit of free time right now, so I may update this quite frequently for the time being. Depends on how well received it is and if my computer can hold up.***


	3. Yellow With Worry

** *Authors Note* *Heya. I've noticed something a few of you are saying, and I'd like to address it. There will be differences between my story and the main story of RWBY. For now, I'm trying to build it up bit by bit, while adhering to the story to a certain degree. But rest assured, I will be making changes, some minor, some major, and some comical, to the story. Any suggestions are welcome and would be much appreciated. That it all. Here is chapter 3. I'm going to try something different out this time and try to run this from Jaune's point of view. Lemme know what you think. Enjoy.***

After his rather awkward dinner, Jaune Arc decided to begin preparing to go to bed. After all, the next day would begin his initiation into Beacon, an academy known for training some of the best Huntsmen and Huntressess around. And with all that he had to do to get in to Beacon, he would surely want to be as prepared as possible. This included getting a good night's rest before the initiation.

But still, the events from the past day occupied him. As he washed his face, his mind kept wandering back to the air ship, and his ill done meeting with Ruby. As he was brushing his teeth, he began to think of his meeting with her in front of the school. _Its kinda odd. Why was she just lying there on the ground? What had happened?_ And as he was rinsing his mouth with the Feh-Resh brand mouth wash, his thoughts went back to his dinner with Ruby and her sister. He felt lucky that he had made a friend on his first day of attending Beacon. Ruby was nice, cute. And her sister was pretty cool too. Though the teasing was a bit overboard. . .

Just remembering the older girl's words caused him to almost choke on the mouthwash, as he spit it out all over the sink. This caught the attention of some of the other males who were washing up and readying themselves for bed. This one with long black hair and a, uh, magenta? Pink-ish? Lightish red? streak over his eyes looked kinda concerned.

"Whoa, are you okay?"

"Oh, no no no. I' just fine. Really. I kinda remembered a funny joke and began to laugh without realizing it, he he he." This was the best Jaune could come up with on short notice. The black haired guy didn't look too convinced, but he let it go and went back to brushing his own teeth.

_Stupid, stupid! How could you even think about that?! She's two years younger than you! But she was rather cute, and very knowledgeable about weapons. She also seemed pretty capable. I mean, she got bumped up a couple of years early for Beacon. Wait. No. No no no! Keep it together! You can't, you _just can't! _S__he's too young Jaune. Too young!_

Finishing up his inner monologue, and his dental and oral hygiene, Jaune proceeded to quickly change into his nightwear. He had intended to bring along his favorite footsie pajamas, but his father had immediately rejected this. Said something about _"No girl will ever fall for a guy in footsie PJ's!"_ Bah, what did he know? They were comfy! Anyhow, after getting into his nightly ensemble; a plain white t-shirt and long pair of black woolen pants, Jaune left to gather in the main hall with the rest of the new students and get some rest for the next morning. Unfortunately for Jaune, it seemed that the world was out to get him today.

"Gaaaah! Where is my pillow? I know I packed it. Did it get left behind on the air ship? Oh man, this sucks." Say what you will, but there are some things a man cannot live without. His pillow is one of them.

"Well, this was great." Walking through the hall, mumbling about the world hating him and some such, Jaune happened to spot his new friend, Ruby and her sister. Yang, was it? While Yang was definitely eye catching with her orange night shirt being rather flattering to her womanly assets, and her shorts showing off her very alluring legs, it was Ruby that had caught his attention. She was rather cute in her little Beowolf themed night top, and her light pink pants with the rose symbol put all over them. No, no, don't think about that Jaune!

Anyhow, the sisters seemed to be talking, but he couldn't hear well from where he was. Not wanting to interrupt them, but curious about their conversation, he got a little closer to hear what the two girls were talking about.

"-ck to the gang at Signal. I promised to tell them all about my adventures here at Beacon." Ruby seemed a little sad when she said this. What was going on?

"Aww, isn't that adorable?"

*Smack!*

A small pink pillow flew from Ruby's hand and hit Yang square in the face, knocking her back a bit.

"Not all of us got to bring our friends with us to school Yang. You have people you know here. Meanwhile, I had to leave all of mine behind."

_Oh,_ thought Jaune_. Th__at's__ why before, when we were walking into the main hall before, she seemed kind of sad. Well, I guess it makes sense, huh? She did say she was given permission to skip two years and enter Beacon early. But still, it can't be easy leaving your friends behind, huh?_

"Well, what about that blonde guy? Jaune, I think? Isn't he a friend? There, that's one friend you've managed to make!" At the mention of his name, Jaune perked up and began to pay closer attention to the chattering sisters.

"Well, yeah I suppose. He's rather nice, easy to talk to. A bit clumsy, though. But he was fun, and was kind to me when nobody else was. He even put up with me geeking out over Crescent Rose."

"Awww, do I detect a hint of a crush in there somewhere? Is my baby sister in love? Tee hee hee." It seems that Yang does indeed have a bit of a sadistic streak when it comes to her younger sister. Pushing the right buttons seems to have caused Ruby to grow a bit pink around her cheeks.

"Geez Yang, I already told you it isn't like that. Jaune is nice and all, but he's just a friend. Besides, I don't think-"

Whatever she was saying, Jaune never heard the end of it, as he moved somewhere else. He didn't feel like he should be listening to the sisters conversation any more. And also, he kind of felt bad for spying on Ruby.

So, after a bit of aimless wandering, he was stopped by a friendly voice.

"Hey, you're the guy from the washrooms earlier. Are you sure you were alright?" Looking back, Jaune saw the guy with the pink-ish lock of hair.

"Yeah, it was all fine and good."

"I see. So, why are you just wandering around? Can't get to sleep?"

"Err. Well, you see. . . I kind of forgot my pillow, and I'm not sure what to do."

"Oh. Well, you wanna borrow one of mine? I always carry a spare on me in case mine gets stolen."

"Oh, that would be great, err. . . " Jaune was glad at the offer, but he realized he didn't even know this guy's name yet.

"Oh, I'm Lie Ren, but I prefer to jus be called Ren. And you?"

"Oh, I'm Jaune Arc. Thanks for the pill-"

"Heeey Ren! What's up? Getting ready to go to bed? Oh, me too! Wanna sleep together? But you know, not like that? I mean, that would be kind of awkward, as we're not even together! Well, we're together, but not together together. Not that I don't think you're handsome and all. But you know-"

Out of nowhere, this random orange haired girl just popped up. She seemed kind of cute, but her smile was kind of odd. In fact, the entire time she was rambling, her smile didn't go away. I mean, is her face stuck like that or something? Anyhow, her popping up was unexpected. It's like a bad magic act. First, nothing is there. Then boom! Without warning, she was suddenly right in front of him, invading the guy's, no, Ren's, personal space. I mean, who was she?

"Ugh, Nora!"

"Tee hee, yes Ren? Oh, who's this? A new friend? Who is he? Hey hey! Who are you? I'm Nora. Nora Valkyrie. But you can just call me Nora. I'm Ren's childhood friend! We've always been together, but not together together. I mean, we grew up around each other and we've been around for one another ever since we hit puberty. I mean, there was this one time-"

"Nora! Too much."

"Sorry Ren."

_Just what is going on here, and who is she? I think she said her name was Nora, or something? God, she is hyper. I thought after eating a plate full of cookies that Ruby would be off the walls, but this girl is acting as bad as a Boarbatusk with a sugar rush. _

"Sorry. She's a bit hyper. Nora, this is Jaune. Jaune, this is Nora."

"Nice ta meetcha!"

"Oh, err. Likewise." _Oh my god. I do not know how to deal with this girl. And she said that they were childhood friends? How does he do it? _

"Well, we should really be getting to sleep. Tomorrow is the big day, and we can't afford to short a few hours of sleep."

"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah. Well, good night then. And thanks again for the pillow Ren."

"No problem, Jaune. Just return it in the morning."

And with this, comes a close to the first day at Beacon Academy. Not the best day, but it was more eventful that he expected. I mean, the motion sickness was kind of expected, but vomiting all over and subsequently getting to meet Ruby was nice. Although finding out that a girl two years younger than him, and wielding a weapon so insane it made his sword and shield look puny in comparison managed to get into Beacon kinda hit him in the manhood. But aside from that, he forgot his pillow. His pillow, of all things! Thankfully though, he had made another friend, Ren, who had lent him one for the night.

_So, it wasn't exactly the best day. But I suppose it wasn't the worst either. I made a friend, and got to meet an interesting girl. I wonder if I can get paired with one of them. A teammate you can get along with is a nice thing._

And with this, Jaune began to relax and let himself be taken by sleep. And the dreams he had during his first night at Beacon were filled with Grim, pillows, and roses.

***Well, that was chapter 3 of Love is a Knight-mare. I plan to start deviating from the story here on out. For now, I've stuck with the main storyline, albeit adding a few things here and there, omitting some lines and interactions and such, etc. So far, I've mostly just shown you what was going on in Ruby and Jaune's heads and lives during the times we haven't seen them. I hope you all look foreword to the next chapter I have planned.***

** *With that said, comments and suggestions are as always, appreciated. If you're waiting for a major development to start with the criticism, thats fine. I hope my next chapter doesn't disappoint those of you who are taking the time to read this. The chapters are a bit lengthy, 1500+ words, but I thank you for taking the time to read through them. And on that subject, thank you for deciding to read my little series, and possibly enjoy it.. Well, I hope to see you next chapter.***


	4. Dawn of the Red

** *Authors Note* *To those of you who have made it this far, welcome to chapter 4 of Love is a Knight-mare. The story will start deviating from the main show here. I'm thankful that you guys are reading this, and I'm glad if you enjoy it. Now, my updates seem frequent, but that's because my time for writing is limited by many things. So I want to update this as often as possible without losing quality. Now this is going back to Ruby's perspective. If you enjoyed Jaune's point of view, let me know and I may try it again. Well, see you in the afterword.***

_Again. It's that same forest again. _

_ I'm running. From what, I'm not sure. But it's bright in behind me. It's dark all around, but it's bright behind me. I don't know what this could be. But I do know it's cold. The light. The snow. The darkness. The stars. My world has become Red, White, Black, and Yellow. The bright red of the lights behind me. The monochrome of this dark, snow-blanketed forest. And the yellow stars above me. Watching. Just watching._

_ And the scene shifts. I'm now walking calmly through that same forest. But it's not as dark now. The light is gone, and the stars seem almost dim. In contrast, the moon is above. It's fractured form reminiscent of scattering rose petals. A great silver rose in the sky. That is the moon. _

_ I don't know why, but I am uncomfortable. I feel like I'm being watched. But I shuffle on ahead. As the trees begin to thin, I find myself in a strange clearing. And then, shadows. One, two, ten. Dozens. All watching me with their formless bodies and vivid red eyes. And then the shadows take shape. All of them take on the form of a wolfen humanoid. A Beowolf. I should feel panicked, but I'm not. I'm calm. Too calm. _

_ Three of the Beowolves break off from the pack and charge me. I know I should feel some kind of fear. I know I should want them to stop. But I feel ease. _Let them come_, I think. _Let them_. And they do. As the first is about to strike me, I leap up in a flurry of petals. As they search for me below, I pull from my back my precious Crescent Rose, and blow one of their heads off. After proceeding to kill three more of the Grim, I unfold my precious into her full form. A large scythe, capable of rending the armor of even the greatest of Grim. So, let them come. I will not fear them._

_ Yes, I know this part. Here they will face me, an army of dozens of Beowolves. I will fight them, and I will win. But something is wrong. Who is this young man? Why is he here? And why does he have a sword and shield raised, as though ready to fight beside me? He's never been here before. This is my fight. So why is he here._

_ Meanwhile, the Beowolves grow ever more restless. But this boy. He turns to me. He says something. I cannot hear what, but something in the smile on his face. Something in his clear, vivid blue eyes. The tenderness in his expression. These make me feel at ease. And so, the Beowolves charge us. And sparing one last glance at me, the boy charges foreword. I must go too. This is my fight, not his. I rush foreword to meet the Beowolves, and to stop the boy. But I can't. I just can't stop him. Just him being here comforts me. I wonder why? I wonder. . . _

"Good morning Ruby! How was my baby sister's first night at Beacon? Did you sleep well?" This is how Ruby's second day at Beacon Academy began. Being woken up by her boisterous and overly cheerful sister, Yang. Still a bit drowsy, she tentatively sat up, and removed her Beowolf-Eye print blindfold.

_Ugh. Where am I?_ Glancing around, she saw other people, young men and women like herself, still sleeping or in the throes of waking up. _Oh right. I was accepted into Beacon with Yang. _

Finally managing to get up right, Ruby went with her older sister to the bathrooms to prepare for their first real day at Beacon. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, brushing her teeth, using the toilet, washing her face. Ruby did all of it to prepare for her first day of learning.

"Ruby! How many times have I told you to brush your hair in the morning. You look like a wolf or something with your hair all like that. Come here, lemme brush it," said Yang as she tried to beckon her sister over, hairbrush in hand.

"No thanks Yang. First, I like my hair this way. It looks cool. Second, my hair is short, so there's no need to brush it like you do yours. And third, you always pull too hard when you try to brush my hair." And indeed Yang did. More times than she cares to remember (or for that matter, even _can_ remember), Yang had pulled more than just the knots out of her hair. And more times than not, Ruby came away rubbing her scalp and wanting some headaches medicine.

After a bit of fussing, and Yang eventually giving up, the two went and got dressed. Yang in her usual short black pants, leather jacket and top, and leather half skirt and boots. Ruby in her black and red-frilled one piece, black combat boots, and red hooded-cape. After feeling that they were fully prepared, the two went to the cafeteria to find a breakfast. A large plate of eggs and bacon for Yang, and a pile of chocolate chip pancakes for Ruby.

"Seriously sis, where do you put all of that sugar? You're going to get fat at this rate!"

"My dearest sister Yang, what are you saying? I can burn this amount off in no time! After a bit more bickering, the two simply went back to eating. Randomly, Yang had decided to ask Ruby a question.

"So Ruby, did you have a nightmare or something last night? You were tossing and turning. You seemed a bit stressed too. Was it. . . that dream again?" Having lived with one another for so long, Yang knew of Ruby's little dream. She knew her baby sister was constantly plagued by this nightmare. Well, it doesn't sound like a nightmare to her. But Ruby always mentioned it feeling so suffocating, so negative.

"Huh? Oh no. Well, yeah. But no. It was the dream again, but it was. . . different. I don't exactly remember what, but it felt less terrifying this time." Indeed it had. But Ruby could not seem to remember what had made the dream nicer this time. The more she tries to remember, the more she comes up empty handed. The most she could recollect was that this time, she was not alone. "It seems that someone was with me this time. I think. It's kind of blurry."

"So, was it me? I'd gladly fight an army of Grim for my baby sister!"

No Yang. I already told you, I don't remember who it was."

Letting the subject drop, the two sisters finished their respective breakfasts and headed to the locker rooms to grab their gear for the upcoming initiation. What it was, nobody knew. There were rumors about having to fight a giant Grim, or maybe a tournament style to sort out the best. Maybe it would be a practical examination, like Aura control or something. She would have been worried, but Ruby did not really know fear. Or worry. And besides, why worry when you have Crescent Rose?

"So sis, you seem a little more chipper today than you did previously. So, did you remember who was your mysterious partner in your dream this time? Was it a cute guy?"

_Was it a cute guy?_ This set off an alarm in Ruby's head. She didn't know why, but it gave her pause for a second. A cute guy? A guy? Now that she thought about it, it might have been a guy who was with her. But who was he? Dad? Qrow? She quickly dismissed this thought, because she felt dwelling on it would not help her. She'll remember in due time.

"No Yang, I do not remember. And if you must know, it's because there's no more awkward small talk or introductions. Now, I get to let my sweet heart do the talking." Said 'sweet heart' being the bastardization of a six-foot long scythe and an anti-material sniper rifle, capable of channeling aura through the bullets. This 'sweet heart' being cuddled, caressed, and purred over as though it were a mere kitten.

"Err, Ruby? Maybe you should make some more friends besides Crescent Rose. I mean, meeting new people is an important part of forming a team and growing up."

"Uggh, you are starting to sound just like dad. First of all, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? I'm plenty capable on my own! And second, I don't _need_ people to help me grow up. I. Drink. Milk!" she says, as she puts her hands on her dainty little waist, looking all proud. Rolling her eyes at this, Yang simply takes Ruby's hood, drops it over her eyes, and proceeds to pat her sister on the head.

After completely readying herself, Ruby notices a couple of people talking. This pretty red haired girl who kinda looked like an Amazon, that mean Weiss girl from yesterday, and Jaune. Jaune?! All of the sudden, without realizing why, Ruby suddenly began to blush. _No no no! Why am I blushing? Is it because I'm remembering what Yang said yesterday? Darn it Yang!_

Curious as to what was going on, Ruby crept a bit closer and listened in on what they were saying. It seemed like Jaune was being flirty with the red haired one. She was unsure why, but this caused Ruby's chest to tighten a bit.

"Whoa, aren't you the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes mascot?! Oh my god, I love that cereal!"

"Yeah," says the red haired girl. Pyrrha, I think Weiss called her? "It was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal's not all that good for you."

"Yeah, yeah. So, what are you doing still bothering us?" Weiss was up to her usual bad attitude. No surprise there. It seems she hates just about everyone, except Pyrrha it seemed. "We were having a nice conversation before you butted in."

"Whoa whoa, no need to be so hosti- err, wait. Aren't you the girl who was shouting at Ruby yesterday in front of the school and in the main hall?"

"Yeah? So what of it? She's a danger to _my_ health. And she was quite rude. Why should I have treated her nicely?"

"Really? And so that poorly sealed bottle of dust had _nothing_ to do with the explosion in front of the school. And your horrible attitude had nothing to do with her treating you rude? Do you think you can act like that and be treated with respect?" At this point, Jaune was getting annoyed. He didn't know why he was becoming defensive of a girl he had met just yesterday, but he didn't care. Getting in Weiss' face, he began to stare her down, a hint of disgust in his eyes. "So, Ice Queen. Do you?"

At this point, Weiss was starting to look noticeably worried. She seemed to be afraid of Jaune, somewhat.

"Pyrrha, help?"

Without warning, a spear was thrown in Jaune's direction. Barely dodging it by a hairs breadth, the spear embedded itself into a nearby locker. Jaune, black hoodie scratched, but otherwise unharmed, turned to the source of the spear. The red haired girl, Pyrrha, seemed to be surprised Jaune managed to dodge it at that range. Or maybe that was guilt in her eyes for trying to shiskabob someone she just met.

"Sorry."

After retrieving her spear from the wall, Pyrrha left with Weiss to the initiation grounds. Meanwhile, Ruby wet up to Jaune, concerned at what she had just witnessed, but also slightly impressed. Not only had he managed to avoid an otherwise troublesome injury, he also stood up for her. This made Ruby happy. She wasn't too sure why she felt so happy. Maybe it was because she had made such a kind and caring friend in Beacon.

"Are you okay Jaune?

"Oh, hey Ruby. Nah, I'm fine. Missed me by this much." And as if to illustrate his point, Jaune spread his hands apart, keeping them roughly shoulder width apart from each other. "Well, sorry you had to see that. It was an, err... difference of opinion. But it's fine, I'm all safe and sound."

Feeling relieved at Jaune's confirmation of his safety, Ruby, Jaune, and Yang headed out to the initiation grounds, followed by this oddly hyper orange haired girl in a pink and white outfit, and a rather handsome guy with a long black pony tail and a streak of pink in his hair. They seemed to be talking about sloths or something. Weird, but who was she to complain?

Meeting the others at the initiation grounds, and waiting for a few more to show up, Ruby and the rest got in line as instructed.

_Okay. This is gonna be easy. I'm gonna team up with Yang, we'll beat this test down, and all will be good and easy for the next few years of Beacon. _Yeah! I can do this! Ruby began to let her mind wander as the professors began to explain the situation.

"Hello. Welcome to initiation. Your goal is to retrieve a relic hidden in a ruin on the far North side of the forest. Be warned, this forest is filled with monsters. Be ready to fight, or you will die. You will be graded based on expediency, how well you can cooperate, and how well you protect your relic."

"As many of you know, rumors have been circulating about the formation of teams," began professor Goodwitch. _Ohh, we're finally to this part!_ "I am here to put an end to these rumors. Teams will be decided once you are in the forest. The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years here at Beacon."_ W-w-whaaat?!_ How could they? With that, they began to launch students into the forest.

"Ohhh, this looks like so much fun. See you in the forest Reeeen..." Ruby could hear that same hyperactive girl from before saying, as she was launched into the forest. The next to go, the Ren guy, seemed almost tired. Poor guy.

"So uhm,sir? How exactly is this supposed to go? Did you hand out parachutes or something?" asked Jaune. It seemed he was a bit nervous.

"No, young man. There were no parachutes. You will be using your own landing strategy."

At this, Ruby was luanched into the forest, ready to face this trial-by-fire. Glancing back at Jaune, she watched him get thrown into the air. No grace, no balance. Nothing, just spinning wildly, shouting something like "-hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

Soaring through the sky, above the emerald forest below, Ruby began to focus on the task at hand. _Alright. As soon as I land, I have to find Yang. I have to find her. My next four years here at Beacon depend on me finding her. _

And so, focused as much as she ever could be, Ruby prepared to land into the dangerous, Grim infested forest below, and search out her older sister to form a team with. As the other students flew around her, varying distances and altitudes, she began to search for Yang. _Oh please oh please. Let me find Yang._

** *That concludes chapter 4. I changed quite a bit, but some of you may not be satisfied with it. Rest assured, this extra lengthy chapter was done to set up my next chapter. In chapter 5, expect the formation of partnerships, the trials and tribulations of our new teams, and maybe even a battle or two. Again, critique, comments, and maybe even suggestions are welcome. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I shall see you with chapter 5 next time.***


	5. Emerald Forest Arc 1

** *Author's Note* *Hey there . I'm glad to see that chapter 4 was well received. I had figured the lack of progress so far would cause some of you to drop the series, or maybe demand that I speed it up a bit. I'm glad that you guys seem to like the gradual progression instead of "Hey, we just met. Let's make out." As promised, partnerships and teams will be formed here. I spent quite a bit of time agonizing over how to do this, due to my OCD, ADHD, and love of acronyms. I hope you all enjoy! ***

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

As she flew through the sir, barreling towards the forest below at incredible speeds, Ruby could not help but enjoy herself. The freedom of flying through the air, unrestrained by ground below was so liberating. But gravity seems to have other plans for the 15 year old huntress. Starting to descend, Ruby pulled out her precious Crescent Rose and began firing towards the ground to slow her descent. Several shots and a few dead crows ("Birdie no!") later, as her descent began to slow, Ruby unfolded her precious scythe into it's full and lethal form. Wrapping the scythe around a tree branch, she pulled a few somersaults and landed with a grace rarely seen in girls her age.

Head snapping up, Ruby began to run. Hitting speeds that most normal Hunters could not even imagine, she began to run. Without a specific destination in mind, and with only one purpose in mind. Find Yang. As she pondered her chances of finding Yang, among all of the other freshmen who had just been launched. At this, she tried to think of others who could be possible teammates.

_There was the nice girl who helped her in front of the school when Weiss was being mean. Blake! She's calm, mysterious. And she loves books! But I'm not too sure we'd be able to hold a conversation._

_ Weiss might end up a possibility. She's not the easiest to get along with, but I want to try being friends with her! And she seems capable of holding her own in a fight. But we'd most likely end up fighting each other more than the Grim._

_ Ohh ohh, and there's Jaune. He's nice. Funny! He's pretty cool and treats me like a normal person. Not like I'm the bee's knees or anything. He treats me as a normal person. Though I'm not sure how well he'd fight. He doesn't look as good as the others._

As she was pondering this, Ruby could have sworn she heard something. Screaming? Shouting? It was getting progressively closer. Though from where, she wasn't sure, slowing down to a walk, she strained her hearing to locate the source. It seemed that the source was somewhere beside her. Or behind her? No, it was. . . above?! Turning around and looking towards the sky, Ruby saw a large black object falling at an incredible speed. Wait, the black object was screaming? _What?_

"Ruuuuby! Watch oooout!" It was Jaune! But why was he flailing like that? Couldn't he use his shield or his aura to mitigate the impact? Oh wait, he's falling right at Ruby?! _Oh n-!_

She never got a chance to finish her thought, as Jaune violently impacted her, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her to the ground.

"Ohhhhhh, what happened?" Ruby felt like she had just been hit by a raging Yang. Beowolves and stars encircling her head, Ruby was down for the count. After a few seconds, Ruby regained her senses and tried to get up. Tried. But something rather heavy was on top of her. A large black lump with some yellow fuzz. Oh, wait, that's hair.

"Errrgh. Hey Ruby." Yup, it was definitely Jaune. After a few seconds, he realized he was laid out on top of Ruby. Quickly jumping off of the younger girl, he dusted himself off and offered a hand.

"Oww. Seriously Jaune, what were you thinking." Accepting his offer, Ruby grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled herself up. Dusting herself off and looking around, Ruby realized she and Jaune were alone. *GRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAR!* Okay, so maybe not alone alone.

Beowolves. Figures. These things were always trying to pick a fight with Ruby. It seemed they all have built in Ruby GPS. And she wasn't sure why either. She thought they were cute. Well, as cute as 6 foot tall, boney werewolves could be. Readying her scythe, Ruby took a position and prepared to fire on the Grim. Right beside her, Jaune had readied him, getting into a defensive stance with his shield raised, and his sword ready to strike.

"Well Ruby, I wanted to use some cheesy and overly cliche line like 'Just dropping in', but now it looks like we'll be a bit to occupied to worry about that. So uhh, you take the few dozen on the left, and I'll take the 4 or 5 on the right?"

"Better yet Jaune, you handle them from close quarters, and I'll support you with cover fire."

"Oh uh, you sure about this? I mean, I don't wanna get i your way and all."

"Jaune."

"Okay, so let's do this."

No sooner than the two had finished their strategy meeting when the Beowolves lunged forward. Raising his shield up, Jaune ran into the fray. The first Beowolves claw glanced off his shield, not even a scratch. Pushing the Beowolf off of him, Jaune plunged his blade into the Grim's chest. One down. Thirty-something to go.

*Click Click* *Bang!* *Click Click* *Bang!*

Without missing a beat, two others had broken from the pack and tried to flank Jaune as he had taken out their friend. In the short time frame between Jaune running forward and taking down the first one, Ruby had planted Crescent Rose business end down into the soft earth below her feet. With the scythe as stable as it was, Ruby had fired twice and taken out the two attacking Beowolves with clean, precise shots to the head.

_Holy crap, she's an amazing shot!_ Even in the midst of an assault by a pack of several dozen Beowolves, Jaune had time to be impressed with Ruby's marksmanship. And who wouldn't be? With such a large, heavy weapon she was able to precisely take out two targets from quite a distance with barely any lag between the shots. Outstanding. _Maybe she could teach me to use a gun or something?_ He errantly wondered.

Meanwhile, unaware of Jaune's little inner fanboy praising Ruby, the Beowolves renewed their assault. Snapping out of his thoughts, Jaune barely managed to block an oncoming Beowolf with his shield, and cut the arm off of another with his sword. Pushing away the two, Jaune lept back, putting some distance between him and the pack. Behind him, Ruby was still firing off, taking out at least one Beowolf per shot. After taking down another seven or so, Jaune could hear Ruby begin to. . . laugh?

"Haha! Woo hoo! Come on Jaune, it's just starting to get fun!"

Wow, she is crazier than the Beowolves! But, unwilling to let himself be outdone by Ruby, Jaune hopped back into the fray. Amidst the flying claws and legs and- wait, was that a tail? Amidst the flying body parts, spray of rose petals (seriously, was that Ruby's semblance or something?!), and with her laughter in the background, Jaune began to find himself having fun. Smacking aside another Beowolf, and lopping it's head off, Jaune began to laugh, as though he was enjoying this, this madness.

Finally thinning the horde to just a few, the Beowolves began to show signs of fear. Keeping their distance from the Knight and the Reaper, they began a slow retreat. Without facing away from their would-be prey, the Beowolves began to back up slowly, cautiously. Watching their hated foes slow retreat, the two rookie Hunters deliberated on whether or not to give chase. After a a second or two, they decided against it, and began to loosen up.

"Well, that was a thing. Huh Ruby?" Jaune, clearly having enjoyed himself in the little fight before, was still smiling broadly. Chuckling a bit, he collapsed his shield back to it's original form as a sheath, hung it at his waist, and put his sword away. Ruby, following his example, folded Crescent Rose up and put her away in the sheath on her back.

"Yeah," she said with a chuckle. Walking to Jaune, she stuck her hand out in an overly emphasized manner, and with a cheerful voice said "Hello. Nice ta meetcha! I'm Ruby Rose!"

"Uhh," began Jaune. He was a little unsure of what was going on. Tentatively, he took Ruby's hand in a firm grasp, and replaied "Jaune, Jaune arc!"

"Well Jaune, this makes us partners from now on."

"Oh, so that's what that was. I thought you were- err, nevermind. Just forget about it." With these two teenagers now aware of their partnership, a smile and an awkward handshake later, the two set off to find the ruins, retrieve the artifact, and get back to Beacon safe and sound.

*****Meanwhile, at the cliffs with Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. As the students form their partnerships and fight their way through the Grim, these two watch on. Evaluating.*

"Looks like the group forming is going well. It seem that Miss Valkyrie has found a partnership with Miss Schnee. Oh boy, I don't know how she'll survive with Miss Valkyrie. And it seems Miss Rose has found a partner in that Jaune Arc fellow. His transcripts seem impressive, but his fighting before was all over the place."

Prior to the mention of Ruby, Ozpin had been disinterested. But upon the mention of the silver-eyed girl, he perked up a bit. Leaning over to view Glynda's Scroll. Seeing the little red-head as she chatted animatedly with a young blonde boy.

Pulling out his own Scroll, Ozpin switched to the live feed to watch their progress himself.

*Back with our pair of socially awkward teen Hunters as they trudged their way through the forest in search of their first grade.*

"Well Jaune, I think we should be heading in this direction."

"Why's that Ruby?"

"Well, as you know, the run rises from the East. It's still the morning, so we can tell the sun came from that direction," accentuating her point by gesturing at the Sun's current position. With this, we can assume that North is that direction. And the Ruins where we find the artifact thingy are supposed to be at the Northern most part of the forest."

"Wow Ruby, you're pretty smart. Where'd you learn this?"

"Oh well, while growing up I always loved camping and hiking. There were these woods near my house, and me and Yang would always go exploring and stuff. Our dad knew I enjoyed it, so he taught me a bunch of stuff about surviving. How to hunt, tell direction, and make torches."

"Torches?"

"Don't ask."

Continuing with the small talk, the two worked their way North, walking for several minutes. After a bit of stumbling, bumbling, and overall awkward small talk, the two managed to get within sight of what appeared to be a bunch of crumbling stone structures.

"Think this is it, Ruby?"

Not even gracing that question with an answer, Ruby just gave a little smirk to continued on. Coming down, she noticed there were some other groups there. She noticed the hyperactive girl in pink from before, and it seemed that she was teamed up with the mean girl, Weiss. She appeared to be, singing? Okay, that's just odd. She also saw Blake, he ribbon looking strangely like kitty ears from this distance, and the red haired girl from before. Pyrrha I think. The one who tried to spear Jaune earlier. Remembering this caused Ruby to get a little angry. Unsure of why, Ruby thought it was because it was done against her friend, and decided to just leave it at that. And- oh hey, there was Yang! She seemed to be teamed up with that Ren guy from before. He seems good, so no problem there.

Rushing down, Ruby and Jaune joined the other six down in the ruins. Looking around, they noticed that the "relics" were all just oversized chess pieces. Half of them black, and the other half were gold. And shiny. Ooooh, shiny.

"Ruby!"

"Yang!"

"NORA!"

Well, their touching sisterly reunion was ruined. Oh well. So of the four groups gathered here, the only ones yet to choose a relic were the newly arrived group that was seemingly headed by the youngest student to ever grace Beacon's hallways. Checking out the relic, Ruby and Jaune deliberated for a few seconds. Eventually, the two settled on the golden knight. Why? Because Ruby liked the horse design. And Jaune didn't wanna argue with her.

With their artifacts chosen, the four groups decided to head back to Beacon. It looked like it would all be smooth sailing from here on out.

*GGGGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW* 

*SSSSSKKKKKRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEE*

"Oh for the love of-!"

"Ohh boy, oooh boy ,ohhh boy ,ooooh boy!"

"Uh oh."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

"Here we go."

". . ."

Everyone seemed to know that they weren't getting out of this forest without a fight. Readying themselves for what was to come, the eight young Hunters faced the direction the noises came from.

"Well guys. This is gonna be fun." Ruby could only feel excitement at the oncoming fight. Of course. She was ready for this. She wanted this. Every nerve was on overdrive, every fiber of her being eager for the coming fray.

"Sis. Remind me to buy you a dictionary later and highlight the word fun."

***Well, the partnerships have been formed. Ruby and Jaune. You had to see that coming. Ren and Yang. This I deliberated on for a while. I finally settled on this combination after considering that Ren's stoic attitude perfectly balanced Yang's outgoing personality. I decided on Nora and Weiss because, well, I wanted Weiss to suffer. And suffer she shall :D Muahahaha! Ahem. I put Blake and Pyrrha together because I find that a pair of less excitable people would be a good foil for the teams I have planned. Also, my acronyms demanded it.***

** *So, that was chapter 5. I wonder how you enjoyed it? I tried my best with adding a little fight in there. A little comedy, and a quick shift to Ozpin and Glynda for good measure. Anyhow, as usual, I hope you guys found the chapter to be satisfactory. I'm gonna speed the next one up. Likely be a slightly shorter chapter than the recent 1500 and 2000+ word (this one is over 2500 words, wow!) chapters, but I'll try to not skimp on the quality. Expect to formation of the actual teams next chapter, as the next chapter kind of follows episode 8 to a degree. Fight with giant Grim, and Ozpin making the teams official. Anyhow, if you want, try to guess the teams and the acronyms I'll be using for the team names.***

** *Okay, so to end the long after note, as always, I appreciate comments, critique, and suggestions. Have fun, leave a note with your complaints/such, and I'll be seeing you for chapter 6 next time.***


	6. Emerald Forest Arc 2

** *Author's Note* *Okay, time for teams! You all probably already guess what's gonna happen here, huh? Not surprising considering I'm sticking as close to the story as I can. But I digress. The teams formed here were decided from a combination of factors. Namely, how funny it would be to have these characters together. I hope you find them to be as entertaining as I did.***

** *But as a quick recap of the last one, the current partnerships are Ruby and Jaune, Weiss and Nora, Blake and Pyrrha, and Yang and Ren. There's a little pattern there. See if you can find it. Might prove entertaining to see if anyone can figure it out. Anyhow, enjoy!***

*GGGGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR*

*SSSSKKKKKRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEE*

_Oh sh- fudge nuggets. Oh fudge nuggets. _Ruby, her partner Jaune, and the other six assorted young women (and Ren) gathered around the ruins looked utterly freaked. And why wouldn't they? Two of the largest Grim any of them had ever seen just appeared in their faces, looking hostile and hungry.

The large scorpion-like Grim was a Deathstalker. But this one was much larger than the ones Ruby had seen and fought against growing up. At least twice the size. It's bony white-and-red armored shell looked weathered and worn. Cracks and fractures ran along back of the creature. Moss growing along the large pincers and legs of it's shell.

The large crow-like Grim was a Nevermore. But with it's size, this Nevermore was comparable to the Roc of legends. Known to have powerful feathers capable of deflecting all but the strongest of Dust and steel assaults, and being able to fire these feathers off.

As a pair, this was quite possibly the worst combination of Grim for any Hunters, new or experienced, to fight. And everyone here knew this. Everyone. Even the ever boisterous Yang and chipper Nora were starting to visibly become shaken.

"Uhh, g-guys? What do we do now?" The first to break the silence was Jaune. Unlike the others who maintained some semblance of courage or some sort of bravado, Jaune was visibly shaking. Knees wobbling and shield shaking like a leaf, Jaune was outwardly displaying the very fear and worry everyone there was feeling.

"What do you mean what do we do? Our orders were to simply retrieve the relics and return. There's no need for us to risk our lives here, Jaune," Ruby reasoned.

"So, run away and live? Now _that_ is an idea I can get behind." With this little exchange, the tension lifted a little from the group. That was right! They had no reason to fight the Nevermore. No reason to risk the Deathstalker. They could simply leave. And nobody would blame them either. I mean, these things were huge!

"Okay, okay," Yang interjected. "Once you two are done with your little love comedy, we really should get going."

Ignoring her sister's teasing, Ruby grabbed her partner and started to run. The others, realizing what was happening, decided to follow suit. The group of eight huntsmen and huntresses quickly put some distance between them and the ruinous temple behind them. After several minutes of dodging tress and bushes, stumbling over roots and debris, and overall hardcore sprinting, the students found themselves coming up to what appeared to be a large, decrepit structure. Stone bridges and structures built over a large chasm, worn by weather and time, and lost to nature's grasp. Overgrown by vines and moss, the placed looked somewhat like the large and murderous Deathstalker that was currently living up to it's name.

"Oh come on! How did we get lost on our way back?!"

"Seriously Yang? I told you we should have taken a left and not a right! You made us go in the wrong direction!"

"Oh right, so let's blame me! And why didn't you just go the other way then?!"

"Because I have to follow you and keep you safe!"

"Hah! You keep me safe? That's so adorable Ru-"

"Will you two just shut up," roared Weiss. Apparently, their sisterly bickering was getting on some nerves besides their own. "If you two would put half the effort into running that you would into bickering, we'd already be out of here!"

"But Weiss, weren't you the one that got us lost as we were searching for the artifacts before? I mean, I wanted to go one way, but you were acting all bossy and trying to tell me what to do. I mean, we eventually got there after a buncha wrong turns because I finally just picked a direction and it turned out to be right."

"Nora, I am not bossy! Don't say things like that! And for your information, I knew exactly where I was go-"

*SSSSSSSSSKKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEE*

Not giving the bossy heiress a chance to finish her sentence, the Nevermore swooped down and destroyed the bridge they were running on, separating the group into two. On the side attached to the land was Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie, Blake Belladona, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. On the other side, running towards what appeared to be the central structure of these ruins were Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Yang Xiao Long.

With the Deathstalker crawling up on them, the five-man team took stock of their situation. Finding their retreat was cut off, the group quickly realized they were between a rock and a hard place. Readying themselves, they turned towards the approaching threat.

On the other side was the smaller group. Their opponent seemed to be simply taunting them. Allowing Crescent Rose to take her full scythe form, Ruby began to fire relentlessly at the bird. Yang, following her little sister's example, allowed her gauntlets to extend to their proper size and began unleash blast after blast. Jaune, not having any sort of gun mechanism in his weapon, just stood around looking like a fool.

On the Deathstalker's side, the five were not having an easy time. Weiss' magic could barely affect the Grim through it's thick exterior shell. Ren, Pyrrha, and Blake's bullets were just harmlessly being deflected. The only one doing any visible damage to the thing was Nora. Her Magnhilde's full form, a grenade launching war-hammer, was knocking the thing around like a ragdoll.

Narrowly avoiding being speared by the Deathstalker's golden tail, Ren took a hold of the thing and held on for dear life as he shot the creature below him him. But with the Deathstalker flailing it's tail around like a possessed King Taijitu, Ren's grasp began to lessen. With one final fling of it's tail, Ren was thrown clear of the bridge, landing beside the small group of Ruby, Jaune, and Yang.

"Ren!" Nora cried, expressing concern over her childhood friend.

Getting back up almost immediately, Ren took a stance beside his partner and the other two. Pulling his twin pistols out, Ren began to fire at the avian Grim as it made it's way back.

Back with the Deathstalker, the team seems to be having trouble. As they were being pushed closer and closer to the edge, their fighting got more and more desperate.

"Guys, I may have an idea." Pyrrha spoke out, probably with some last ditch attempt to steal victory. "Weiss, can you freeze the Deathstalker in place?"

"Sure." Doing as Pyrrha requested, Weiss stabbed her precious rapier into the ground. Switching the dust setting on the revolver, Weiss formed a wall of ice below the Deathstalker's legs and pincers. Firmly trapped on the stone bridge, the Grim struggled in vain to set itself free.

"Blake! Can you cut the tip of it's tail off?"

"Mmhmm."

Rushing forward and using the Deathstalker itself as a stepping stool, Blake used the sheath of her weapon to cleave the golden tip from the rest of the tail. Free from the rest of the Deathstalker, the tail dropped down onto the head of it's former owner.

"Nora, nail it!"

"Going up!" Hopping onto Pyrrha's shield, Nora used her weapons recoil along with Pyrrha's strength to fling herself high into the air. After reaching her maximum height, she aimed the gun portion of her hammer up, and fired. Using the recoil to speed her descent, she performed quite the forward summersault and smashed the Deathstalkers own tail into his head, shattering the skull portion of it's shell and likely turning it's brain to mush. With the bridge collapsing, the four rushed to get off and avoid falling to their deaths. After clearing the bridge mere seconds before it collapsed, the four turned to see their fellows as they dealt with the remaining threat.

Facing the Nevermore, Ruby, Jaune, Yang, and Ren were disorganized. Just firing off whatever they could, with Jaune throwing whatever rocks he could find, and doing no visible damage. Getting angry at the four hunters, the Nevermore came in for one more run, taking down the area where the four were. As the structure began to crumble, the four started to rush up to more stable ground, using the falling debris as stepping footholds. Ruby was using Crescent Roses recoil to jump from chunk to chunk, Yang utilizing Ember Celica's recoil to do the same, Ren using his aura to increase his legs strength and adhere to the rocks, and Jaune was desperately scraggling up the rocks using his poor aura control to jump from chunk to chunk.

Barely making it to the top, the four spread out and tried to catch their breaths. _This isn't working Ruby. We need a plan. Come on, think. Think!_ Looking around, Ruby began to take stock of her little improvised team's different skills. _Yang, and Jaune. And Ren. Hmm... That could work. Maybe._

"Guys, I have a plan!"

After the Nevermore came in for one more attempt, the four quickly rushed into a shoddy huddle. As the Nevermore was soaring around, waiting for some reason or another to try again, Ruby told the rest of her plan to defeat the bird.

"Uhh, Ruby? Are you insane?!"

"Rubes, that does sound kinda. . . crazy."

"Well, what do we have to lose? I say we try it."

Although after voicing their opinions, Jaune, Yang, and Ren looked a little doubtful, they still got to their respective positions, as per Ruby's instructions.

With the Nevermore coming around for another attempt, Ren surged forward and took a hold on the Nevermore. Doing his best to stay on the Raven-like Grim, Ren pulled one of his pistols out and began to fire relentlessly onto the birds head. Not doing any major damage, he still managed to get a reaction from the Grim. Disliking it's current rider, the Nevermore began to struggle vigorously to shake him off.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Yang were preparing the second step of Ruby's plan. Rushing to the edge of the steep cliff that was overlooking their battleground, Jaune took a hold of Yang's jacket.

"Take care not to mess my jacket up, or the birdie up there will be the least of your problems, got it?"

Jaune had confirmed that he had indeed received Yang's warning. Satisfied with this, Yang began to scale the massive cliff with surprising speed and agility. Jaune helping where he could by using his legs to keep himself up and avoid putting too much weight on Yang. But with how fast she was scaling, it felt more like he was running up the wall. After a couple of minutes, the two had finally reached the peak of the cliff. Not even seeming exhausted, Yang prepared for the second step of the plan. Meanwhile, Jaune was still catching his breath.

"Come on Jauney boy! We need you for the next part!"

"Just lemme. . . catch my. . . breath."

"Ugh, hurry up!"

Finally catching himself, Jaune readied himself beside Yang. Seeing his compatriots having finished their preparations, Ren hopped off the Nevermore and, using his gun's under-mounted blades, slowed his descent by gripping a standing column and sliding around.

After Ren was out of the way, Yang began to fire. And fire, and fire, and fire. With most of her shots hitting their mark, the Nevermore changed its direction and began to fly towards Yang. Stepping back, Yang allowed Jaune to step forward and brace himself. With the Nevermore coming in fast, Jaune was panicking. Knees wobbling, hands sweating. But he had to do this. Ruby asked him. He could do it. He _would_ do it. Raising his shield, Jaune prepared for the impact. Okay, so the plan hinges on him raising his aura output. Concentrating as best as he could, Jaune began a rapid increase of his aura. Bracing himself, the Nevermore came in fast. Swinging his arm back, Jaune ran to the edge of the cliff and, with all of the force he could muster, smashed the Nevermore down towards the ground.

Watching Jaune and Yang from the bottom of the cliff, Ruby watched the Nevermore as it swooped in towards her partner and sister. Ren landing beside her, looked on with her. As the Nevermore reached the two, the saw a sudden jerk, and the Nevermore began falling towards the ground.

"Go Ruby!"

"Right!" With this, Ruby utilized her semblance to it's fullest. Rushing at speeds no human or faunus could trace, she jumped onto the cliff and began to climb. And by climb, I mean run up a completely vertical wall, entirely unaffected by gravity. Firing off Crescent Rose below her, and using the recoil to propel herself up the wall faster, Ruby rapidly approached the falling Nevermore. Reaching the Grim, Ruby gripped it's neck with her precious scythe, and with one final, aura and Crescent Rose enhanced pull, decapitated the large fiend. Continuing with her run, Ruby reached the peak just as the Nevermore's corpse hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"Holy-"

"Wow!"

"Amazing!"

". . . !"

The four onlookers, after having dealt with their own problem, could only look on with amazement at the scene that had just unfolded in front of them.

After all was said and done, the eight students made their way back to Beacon.

Fast forward, all of the students have gathered into the main hall, where teams are being made, and students are beaming with pride. Having just formed a team of four rather large freshmen, CRDL, the next team was being called up.

"Blake Belladonna, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Weiss Schee." After all of them had gathered on the stage, Ozpin continued. "You four retrieved the white rook piece. From now on, you will be Team NNWB (pronounced "Noob", it's (N)ikos, (N)ora, (W)eiss, and (B)lake), led by Pyrrha Nikos. And up next, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Lie Ren." As the newly formed team NNWB left the stage, the four who were just called began to walk up. "You four retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be Team RAYR (pronounced "Rare", it's (R)uby, (A)rc, (Y)ang, (R)en), led by Ruby Rose!"

"Ooooh, I'm so proud of my baby sister," said Yang, as she pulled Ruby into a major bear hug, with the rest of the newly formed Team RAYR laughing.

_ With this, the teams are formed, and everything is looking up. And I can't believe I'm the leader too of my own team. This is so cool! So, me, Jaune, Yang, and Ren have to work together from now on, huh? Well, this is gonna be fun!_

***Afterword* *********Well, that's it for the Emerald Forest part. Things will start to pick up from here with the interactions between Ruby and Jaune. I may throw some curveballs, and I may throw in a few extra things here and there for you guys. Bear in mind, I'm doing half of this based off of planning, and the other half is being made up as I go along. But again, suggestions and critique are welcome at any time.***

** *So, I thank you for reading this far. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter. Coming up with actual words with the groups I'd thought of caused me a slight headache, but I eventually settled on Noob and Rare. Noob was chosen simply to make fun of Weiss, and because Nora has the kind of energy you normally only find in a fresh face. Plus, I like the irony of it for Pyrrha. As for Rare, well. . . That's nothing special. It's the only word I could think of at the time that didn't sound weird. Anyhow, again, I hope you enjoyed. See you for the next chapter!***


	7. The Beginning

** *Author's Note**Hey, welcome to chapter 7. A few of you said you liked how I did the team names. I do too. But allow me to say something about those. There have been no reactions from the teams yet for their names, but I do wanna use team NNWB's name as a joke plot later on. RAYR, well, they're fine as is, right? Anyhow, now starts the slice-of-life portion of Love is a Knight-mare. Expect some more comedy, some better interactions between Ruby and Jaune, and maybe another pairing (to be announced later) (or two(maybe)). But I digress.***

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

_ The sound of the snow beneath my boots is oddly comforting. I walk this familiar and seemingly endless forest. I know this place. I know it. I know I do. But I just can't seem to remember. I forget a lot when I'm here. I can remember most of what I need to, but here it all escapes me. Taken away by this cold wind. Just taken away._

_ But there is one thing I remember. One thing I always remember here. It's not a memory. Not a name, not a face either. It feels more like an instinct. An instinct encouraged by that familiar weight on my back. A bloodlust that grows evermore restless as I continue. I know that a battle will be coming. A great one. And I also know that I will not lose. That I _can not _lose._

_ Bright lights ahead. My body tenses up. This must be it. This must be where I am to fight. But it's odd. Something is missing. There's no feeling of paranoia. Am I usually not stalked up to this point? But no, it feels the same. And my adversary should be awaiting me. No, my adversaries. And I will meet them. Head on like I always do. I will not lose. I cannot lose. And so with this, let me face them._

_ But what is this? I walk into the clearing, and where there should be some great beasts or figures of terror, there is only a figure. Just slightly taller than me, it doesn't move. As the clouds cease to obstruct the moon, the figure is revealed. It appears to be a young man, maybe my age. Black hoodie and armor, and blonde hair. I don't feel right. I ready my Crescent Rose, my only true friend, and I face this unknown boy down._

_ But despite the sword at his waist, he doesn't tense up. No, he just slowly walks my way, at ease. Hands slightly raised, as though to calm me. All this while, holding a smile. This smile, and his eyes. His deep blue eyes. They seem so warm, even amidst this blizzard. Without realizing it, the boy has reached me. I pull my scythe back to cleave his body apart, but I can't do it. I can't fire and cut him. While I express my shock, he slowly leans down to my face. A foot. Eight inches. Five inches. An inch. So close. Wait, what is he planning? Is he going to ki- . . ._

"Wha-? What just happened?" Woken by the shock of where her dream was going, Ruby Rose bolted up in bed. Pulling her sleeping blindfold off, Ruby looked around and tried to get her bearings. Checking the clock on the wall, Ruby saw it was only 5:15 am. Where was she though? Oh, right. She was in Beacon. She had just formed a team yesterday, and this was their dorm. To her left was her older sister Yang. Sleeping in her bed in the same sloppy position she always does; arms splayed out, hair a mess, and covers thrown all over the place.

To her right, on the opposite side of the room were her two male teammates, Ren and. . . Jaune! _Oh wait, why am I blushing. It's just Jaune! _After calming herself down, Ruby took note her her sleeping teammates again. Ren was lying still, not too much movement from him. He seemed to be a pretty normal sleeper, unlike her big sister who's snore could scare even an Ursa. Yeah, the only abnormal thing about how Ren slept was tha he was so quiet it almost seemed like he was dead. Wait, he isn't dead, is he? Oh my god, is my teammate dead?! Oh my god oh my god ohmygod! While causing herself all kinds of worry, Ren turned slightly in his bed, reassuring Ruby that he was not dead. Oh, thank goodness. I though he was dead! Calming herself once more, Ruby took note of her partner, Jaune. He seemed comfortable. He was curled up under his covers looking all snug and warm. Ruby assumed he was hugging his teddy bear from yesterday too. Ren and Yang seemed not to notice, but Ruby had seen Jaune try to hide the stuffed animal under his covers while he unpacked.

Giggling to herself, Ruby thought about her new team and the events that had unfolded the previous day. The nightmare, though not as bad as usual, waking up to Yang and her teasing, partnering up with Jaune during the initiation, and fighting the Grim in the Emerald Forest. On top of that, being lucky enough to get the same artifact as her sister, landing them in the same team. Well, she wasn't going back to sleep now, so she decided she would just stay awake for another hour or so before waking the others up. Since there wasn't much else to do, Ruby simply grabbed her bags. Reaching in, she grabbed a sketch pad, a pencil, and her desk lamp (a gift from Yang).

You see, Ruby loved to draw. She saw drawing as a way to express herself. Well, she saw many things as a way to to express herself. Expressing herself was one of Ruby's favorite things to do. She loved to randomly hum or sing, cook, and draw. Things she'd learned and practiced growing up with a lazy sister, and very encouraging parents. With a sister that appreciated her talent with a pencil or a rolling pin, Ruby had plenty of opportunities to hone her skills.

Pencil in hand, sketch book on the bed, and the lamp set up to give her light, Ruby began to think of what she could draw. Looking back at her sleeping partner, she was struck by inspiration. With this, Ruby began to draw. A cute little squint in her eyes, her tongue poking out from the corner of her mouth just slightly, and her pencil racing across the paper. This was how she usually drew. Yang would often sit with her as she drew, saying Ruby looked so adorable with her tongue sticking out like that.

Around half-past six, Ruby went to wake Jaune up. Bringing her sketch book with her, Ruby crept up on her sleeping partner. Holding the book over her face, she began to gently shake Jaune, trying to wake him up.

"Jaune. Hey Jaune, wake up."

"Huh? Oh wha-? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

What met Jaune's sight as he opened his eyes was not the visage of his partner and team leader, but rather a Beowolf! After letting Jaune freak out a bit longer, Ruby pulled the sketch away from her face, and beaming said "Goood morning Jaune."

"Ruby! What was that?!"

"Oh, this? It's just a simple Beowolf face I sketched an hour ago. The quality isn't so good because I was in a rush to get it ready to wake you up with. So, how do you feel? Heart still racing?" inquired Ruby with an impish grin.

Oh, Jaune's heart was indeed still racing. But not just because his partner had scared the aura, and maybe some others things, out of him. No, it was actually because of a few things. The first is the dream he had just been woken from. He couldn't remember the specifics of it, but he remembered something about roses. There was something else he couldn't quite put his finger on, but it made him more conscious of Ruby. Another thing is that glancing around, he realized they were the only two currently awake, and that Ruby was in close proximity to Jaune's bed. In her night clothes, he could see things he normally didn't notice with her black combat dress. How the pajamas hugged her body, showing off curves that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Slender waist, delicate arms, and a decently sized bosom for a girl her age.

Ruby looked worriedly at Jaune, because not only did he still look a little shaken, but he was also looking a little flushed. Was he alright? Did he maybe have a cold? Yes, that's right. Ruby had no idea the effect that she was having on Jaune. She simply thought he was still a bit off from being scared.

"Err heheh, yeah, my heart's still racing a bit," began Jaune. But he caught himself, remembering that Ruby was only 15 and trying to convince himself that she's too young. Looking for a way out, he changed the subject. "So Ruby, you drew that Beowolf? It was amazing."

"Really? Even though it was only a rough sketch?"

"Yeah. Did you seriously draw that?"

"Yup. I've been practicing since I was 5. I love drawing. And Yang likes my pictures too. She's one of my biggest supporters."

After a bit more small talk, Ren began to stir. Deciding that he'd slept long enough, Ruby went over and shook him awake, pulling her little Beowolf sketch/mask over her face like she did with Jaune. A freaked out "W-what?!" later signaled that Ruby's little prank had, again, been a rousing success.

After the three of them had gotten up and worked the sleep out of their systems, they decided on who got to use the bathroom first. After a very short period of deliberation, Jaune and Ren agreed to let Ruby use it first. After the three of them had gotten ready for the day, it was around 7:15 am. Looking over to his slovenly sleeping partner, Ren had to wonder.

"Uhm, should we wake her up?"

"I guess. Want me to do it?"

"Sure Jaune."

"No wait, Jaune! Don't-"

But Ruby's warning came a bit late. Leaning over and shaking Yang's shoulder, Jaune was suddenly sent flying across the room would a loud smack. A crash and a thud later, Jaune was on the floor, sitting under a newly formed crack in the wall.

"-do it. Ugh, sorry. Yang has a habit of occasionally punching people who try to wake her up too early." And that she did. This was a lesson Ruby had learned the hard way. Said hard way being two broken ribs and plenty of bruising. "There's a certain way you have to wake her up if you want to completely avoid this. Just watch."

Without warning, Ruby had pulled out her precious scythe, Crescent Rose. Extending it to the full six-plus foot length, she took a stance.

"Wait wait wait! Ruby, we can't kill her!"

"Yeah. I don't think she'd deserve that."

"What? Kill Yang? No, I'm just going to waker her up." And with that, she swung Crescent Rose down on her sisters head, lightly. After a few knocks, and not having anything to punch, Yang sat up.

"Well Yang. Now that you're awake, begin preparing for the day. You've got to get cleaned up and get ready for classes!"

"Huh? What was that about glasses?" asked a half drowsy Yang.

"No, Yang. She said classes. As in learning."

"Oh."

Going through the motions of waking up, Yang took upwards of an hour to get ready. Ruby explained to the guys that this was due to Yang taking extra precious care of her hair. The boy looked to each other, wondering between themselves why exactly someone would spend so long on just their hair. Girls. Who could understand them?

After the four of them were good and ready, they all went down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Today's menu seemed to be pancakes. Filling their plates up with two plain buttermilk pancakes each, Ren and Jaune grabbed a table. Following them seconds later were Ruby and Yang. Yang had her plate piled with half a dozen chocolate chip pancakes. But what was even more surprising was Ruby's plate. It was piled high with eight strawberry pancakes, positively dripping with strawberry syrup and butter. Astounded, the two boy could only wonder where she put it all.

"What?" began Ruby, beginning to blush slightly. "I like strawberries, okay?" And that she did. Yang knew that if Ruby ever smelled a strawberry, or strawberry flavored goodie, she would find it and consume it. Or she could just as easily use it to make some awesome desert. Yang knew from experience that letting Ruby in or near a kitchen often produced some wonderful results.

"Yeah boys, she loves her strawberries. One time, this friend of our family gave us a whole bunch of strawberries as they'd grown far too many to use. Ruby took them all. And before you knowit, the entire house smelled like strawberries. She's made strawberry cake, strawberry pie, strawberry glaze covered doughnuts, strawberry jam. She practically turned our diet for the next couple of days into strawberries. Not that I complained."

"Wait," interrupted Jaune. "Ruby can cook too?"

"Hmm? Yeah, she can, and she's awesome at it. I love her creations, especially the strawberry based ones." thought Yang, as she began drooling over the many thing Ruby had cooked up (pun not intended) over the years. Snapping back to reality, Yang asked "And what do you mean too?"

"Oh, well uh. This morning, Ruby kind of woke me up with a picture of a Beowolf. When I asked her where she got it, she said she drew it herself." This seemed to even catch Ren's attention.

"Oh, well yeah. Ruby is incredibly good with that kind of artistic stuff. You know how she built Crescent Rose, right? Well, Ruby's always been good with those kinds of delicate things." At this, she received a look from Jaune and Ren, as if asking 'Are you calling _that thing_ delicate?' "Well, the delicate work that goes into making things. She can draw like a pro, cook better than most chefs, and her ability to craft weapons is second to none. She even crafted my Ember Celica for me."

"Oh Yang, don't try to oversell me. They're just hobbies is all." Ruby desperately wanted Yang to stop talking. She couldn't handle Ren and Jaune's stares. Was that wonder? Amazement? She didn't know, but still. It was embarrassing.

After a little more teasing of Ruby, Yang went back to her pancakes. The others followed suit, finishing up their meals to give them plenty of time to reach class. Oddly enough, despite having had the most, Ruby was not the last one to finish. That, oddly enough, went to Jaune. He seemed kind of occupied, but whatever. Maybe he was still hung up on the events from this morning.

With Team RAYR finished with breakfast, they headed to their first class of the day. Grim Studies, taught by Professor Peter Port. Eager to get to her first class at Beacon, Ruby almost began to run, all but forgetting her team. Grabbing her sister by the hood, Yang pulled her back, and got her to walk along with them.

Beacon, bustling with the new students on their way to class for the first time. This team didn't seem out of place at all. Well, one member did. Jaune Arc. Walking at the back of the group, nobody noticed that, instead of being bright and smiling, he was nervous and lost in thought.

***After Note* *Well, there you have it. Chapter 7. Whew, it's been about a week since I started this. Due to some upcoming events in about a month, I'm gonna try and update this as frequently as possible. For now, it's a daily schedule, but it may be evert other day at some points. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll let you guys decide in the comments if you want me to put Professor Port's lecture in. Personally, I think he's the coolest teacher at Beacon. But hey, that's just my opinion***

** *So, I used a dream sequence again. If anyone finds those to be as pointless as lorem ipsum, let me know an I'll maybe not do it again. Those do take up some space, and I wouldn't want them boring you. Anyhow, as a heads up, the next chapter will not be in Ruby's perspective. I'm going to try it from Ren or Yang's perspective, to give a different person's view on the Ruby and Jaune relationship. If you want, you can decided who you'd rather see narrate a day in their lives by throwing a comment on it. Anyways, big plans. Big plans. I hope you look forward to chapter 8!***


	8. Gut Ren-ching Morning

** *Author's Note**Hello there. Sorry for not updating yesterday. Two weeks of barely getting any sleep finally caught up to me. Anyhow, here's chapter 8. I decided to skip Port's lecture, partly because I'd have trouble figuring out how to write a Grim Studies class that won't bore some of you. Anyhow, this will be from Ren's Point of View. I figure that with his stoic and somewhat deadpan attitude, I can have some fun with the inner monologues.***

_Oh boy, here we go again._ Yeah, it was one of those days. With the weekend here, the plan was to sleep in late, try to avoid Nora, and get out for some down time and shopping in the town. But the sisters he bunked with had a different plan in mind. At 8:45 am, they had begun another one of their "sisterly bonding moments." For the past week and a half, ever since the four of them became a team, these two have been at it. Some of it was caused by the older sister, Yang, just wanting to mess with Ruby. Other times it was for reasons that he could not even fathom.

Well, he was awake now. Forgoing his plan to sleep in, Ren decided to grab a quick shower and prepare for the day. Stepping out from the washroom, he found his young leader in the small kitchen that their dorm had. Odd, he'd never really seen Ruby try cooking before. He had heard from Yang that she was an excellent cook, especially with strawberries being involved. But he had his doubts. He'd practiced cooking quite a bit, especially with his childhood friend Nora being the heavy eater she was. Whenever she was hungry, she would beg and beg until he made her something to eat.

Curious, he walked up to Ruby. Peering over her shoulder, he saw she was scrambling some eggs in one pan, and frying some potatoes in the other. He errantly wondered how she had time to set this up if she was fighting with her sister before. His showers only took about 10 minutes, most of which was spent getting his hair in line. For her to have gotten all of this prepared in a short time was rather impressive.

Walking back to the little table they had set up to eat their meals at, he decided to help by setting out the plates and utensils. While performing his little chore, he noticed the other girl laid out on the couch. _What a slovenly appearance. Does she have no respect for herself? _

Taking his eyes and his mind off of one blonde, another stumbled into his view. The other guy on the team, Jaune, seems to have just woken up. It seems he had already gotten washed up and gotten dressed. Ren always wondered why he wore such little armor. It makes little sense that one would use some armor, and not bother to cover the rest of themselves. It weighs him down, but doesn't protect himself as much as, for example, Cardin's does.

Still setting the table, Ren watched as Jaune stumbled into the kitchen to grab some water. It looked like Jaune hadn't even noticed Ruby until he was already drinking. When he had finally realized she was there, he nearly did a spit take. It was odd. Since becoming a team, he had been observing his teammates. Partially out of curiosity about the people he was partnered with, and partially out of habit. He'd noticed that Ruby and Jaune seemed to have trouble interacting with others. When the occasional girl would try to chat up Jaune, he seemed completely oblivious. And Ruby would stutter in any normal conversation, eventually bringing up weapons or some such. He wondered how these two socially inept people could be friends. Or maybe that was the reason for their friendship? As for Yang, she was their complete opposite. At this thought, he had briefly wondered how the two sisters could be so different.

"Hey guys, breakfast is nearly ready. I hope you're hungry!"

At this, Ruby came out carrying a large plate of eggs, and one of hash browns. But what had caught Ren attention was how the younger girl was dressed. He didn't notice it earlier, but the red-head was not wearing her usual red cloak. No. She had on a bright red apron, with black frills. Seeing this, Ren could only think that the young girl was born to wear this apron. It made her undeniably cute. Glancing over at Jaune, he saw that the other boy seemed to think so as well. Without even trying to hide it, Jaune was staring open mouthed at Ruby.

"Huh wha-? Ruby. You look so- wow in that apron." It seemed that Jaune was also at a loss for words, as his usual smooth personality completely deserted him at that moment. The best he could do was stutter some half done compliments. But they seemed to work. Noticing the two boys' stares, Ruby started to get embarrassed. Flushing slightly, she put down the two large plates with a noticeable thud, which caused Ren to wonder briefly how the small girl could carry them both with one-hand and not spill a bit. Fleeing back to the kitchen, Ruby removed her apron, hanging it on a nearby wall peg. From the very same peg, she had removed and put on her usual cloak.

"Hey hey, don't go getting any ideas about my little sister guys." At this, Ren turned and noticed Yang walking towards the table. Despite her slovenly appearance from before, she seemed dressed and ready for the day now. Her gauntlets in their bracelet form, Ren still knew that she could get them to extend and beat the daylights out of anything, or anyone, in mere seconds. "I know she's rather cute in her little apron. But if anyone lays a finger on her, I'll beat them harder than Nora would."

_Duly noted_. Checking Jaune, Ren noticed he was positively pale._ I wonder_, began Ren, as his thoughts trailed off. He had noticed for some time that whenever Jaune interacted with Ruby, they were very friendly towards each other, despite their inability to interact with just about anyone else, save Yang in Ruby's case. But occasionally, one of the two would act slightly embarrassed or become a little meek in the other's company. Jaune made it rather obvious sometimes, while Ruby seemed to hide it better. But all of this made Ren wonder one simple question. _Do these two like each other? _

_ It seemed likely, but also doubtful. I mean, if it were true and I could figure it out, then Yang should be able to as well. And with her temper, I doubt Jaune would still be alive if she found out about his crush on Ruby. Maybe this is just due to their social awkwardness? Maybe._

Putting these thoughts to the back burner, Ren took note of the food in front of him again. It looked good. So, grabbing the serving spoon Ruby left with the plates, he grabbed a nice portion of both the eggs and hash browns. Digging in, he found the food was good. In fact, it was better than good. He had thought that Yang was simply being an older sister and praising Ruby more than was necessary. With Yang about to sit down, he saw Jaune start for the food. This was a good idea, in Ren's mind, because he had seen the blonde's appetite. And what an appetite it was. But unlike Ruby, he could see where it all went. Where it all went. . .

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ren decided to try starting some breakfast conversation.

"So, what are everyone's plans for today?"

"Well, I plan to just kick back, and grab a nap. Maybe head out later and meet some friends at the gym. How about you?"

"I'm just going to do some shopping in town." At this, Jaune seemed to perk up.

"Hey, mind if I come with you? I've got to pick up some supplies for Grim Studies and Weapon Maintenance. A few sketchbooks, some pencils, and a new ruler."

"Ooh ooh! Can I come too? Please please please? I wanna get some new sketchbooks too! My old one's starting to get full." Having joined them at the table, and hearing their conversation, Ruby became interested.

"Sure Ruby. Well, since the rest of us are going, just wanna come with us Yang?"

"I'm going to have to. You guys have no idea what happens to Ruby when she goes shopping. If she gets side tracked, just keeping up with her is nearly impossible. You know her semblance is speed, right? Imagine trying to catch her when she starts running through the mall. Fighting a dozen Ursa with a broken arm is an easier task."

The four continued to discuss their plans for heading to the town over the breakfast Ruby had prepared. With their day shaping up as it was, Ren expected he would be in for an entertaining day. Well, at least he's going to get a break from Nora.

*BANG BANG BANG!*

"Ohhhh Ren, are you in there? Come on sleepy head, wake up! It's the weekend. We can do all sorts of things! Go out, watch a movie, check out this lovely new cafe I found, go shop-"

Or maybe not.

***Afterword* *Poor Ren. I honestly have no idea how he can deal with Nora. His friendship impresses me. Well, the next chapter will go to Jaune PoV again. Not sure what I'm going to do for it yet, but I'll come up with something tonight as I down my Monster and eat my potato chips. Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm not too sure I did well with Ren as my focus. Whatever. Anyhow, I hope to see you the next chapter. I think I'll skip ahead some time and go straight into the Jaundice Arc.***


	9. Jaune's Dice 1

***Author's Note**Yo, Dravyn here. As I said before, this chapter will be skipping ahead to the Jaunedice arc. Now, for those of you unaware, Jaunedice takes place about 2 months after Ruby and Weiss' little heart-to-heart. I think. If I'm wrong about this, please do let me know, okay? But anyhow, this chapter will be set 1 month after the previous chapter. This is to allow me some space to work in more about the main couple later, and also allow me some leeway for a few extra future chapters. Now, because my schedule's been hectic lately, and updating has been difficult, I'm releasing two chapters at once. So the next one will not have an author's note. It will, however, likely still have an afterword. This chapter will be from Jaune's PoV. Without further ado, I bring you chapters 9 and 10, Jaune's Dice***

"Ooooph!"

Jaune was breathing heavily. He had been fighting with Cardin Winchester, one of the largest among freshmen, and was having trouble. Winchester, using his large size to his advantage, was swinging around a heavy mace. Even with Jaune's shield protecting him, he could not handle taking too many of these blows. Giving it his all so far has proven difficult. Jaune had problems with attacking another human, so he was holding back his strikes. Cardin seemed to have no such qualms. Ducking another attempt at his head, Jaune rolled out of the way. Without missing a beat, Winchester swung his arm around, and his Jaune square in the chest with his unarmed hand. On the ground now, he came in for the final blow.

"This is the part where you _lose_, nerd."

"Over my dead body!"

Ever so happy to oblige, Cardin raised his mace above his head. Right as he was about to swing down on Jaune, he was stopped by Professor Goodwitch.

"Mister Winchester! That is enough!" Skulking off, Ms. Goodwitch addressed the students. "Pay attention students. As you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped to the red. In a tournament style match, this would indicate that he is unable to continue, and that an official can call the match if so inclined." Turning to Jaune, she said, " Mr Arc. It has been weeks now. Please refer to your scroll and pay more attention to when you should attack or defend. We wouldn't want you being eaten by a Beowolf now, would we?"

"Speak for yourself," mumbled Cardin, out of earshot of Professor Goodwitch.

The bell rang, and students began to dissipate. The only ones remaining were Ruby and Pyrrha, both looking down on Jaune with a mixture of sympathy and pity. Ruby was Jaune's friend and leader, so her staying around wasn't unusual. But Pyrrha had been hanging around Jaune a lot more lately. In fact, she had been having lunch with him (and Ruby), walking to and from class with him (and Ruby), and overall just being nicer to him and his team. He chalked this up to her just being a nice person.

Holding her hand out, Jaune accepted Ruby's offer to help him up. Leaning on Ruby's shoulder, Jaune walked with her to the next class. Pyrrha followed them, looking concerned for Jaune.

Later on at dinner, the two teams, RAYR and NNWB, were sitting together and eating their food. In fact, nobody was really eating the same thing. Jaune was picking at some chicken nuggets, Weiss was eating a single apple, and Ruby. Well, she was eating cookies. For dinner. I repeat, cookies! Who eats cookies for dinner?! What kind of sweet tooth does this girl have?

Meanwhile, the hyper one from Noob, Nora, was recounting some tale.

"So, there we were in the middle of the night. . .," she began.

"It was day," interjected Ren.

"We were surrounded by Ursi. . ."

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of 'em."

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"She's been having this same dream for the past month." Seriously, how out-of-it is this girl if she can't even remember her own dreams? Her best friend knows her own dreams better than she does. But discounting her rather interesting story, the group seemed cheerful. All except for Jaune.

"Jaune," started Pyrrha, "are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Why?"

"Well," began Ruby."It's just that you seem a little. . . not okay. . ."

"Guy's, I'm fine. Look, seriously."

"It's just that Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school." Said Cardin was currently picking on a poor faunus girl one table over. The girl, a rabbit-eared faunus by the name Velvet Scarletina, was currently having her ears pulled by Winchester. The rest of his gang of misfits, team CRDL, were busy with name-calling, jeering, and other childish taunts, all towards poor Velvet.

"Jaune, he bullies you."

"Name one time I've been _bullied_ by him."

And so Ruby recounted to Jaune several instances, including Cardin knocking his books out of his hands, activating his shield/sheath to mess with him, and stuffing him into a rocket propelled locker and shooting him into the Emerald Forest. After which, Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake each gave another example of Cardin's bullying.

"Pssh, bullying! That's just him messing around."

"Jaune. If you need help we're here for you." And Ruby really was. She cared a great deal for her friend, and was troubled to see him go through all of this.

"Ohhhh! I know, I know! We'll break his legs!" With her cheshire grin covering her whole face, Nora jumped up and decided to interject with a rather tempting suggestion. You could almost see the gears turning in everybody's heads. Ruby especially, who looked almost downright diabolical. Jaune remembered Yang saying something about her being good at making weapons. Would that also extend to making explosives?

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." As if to prove his point, Cardin and his little gang began to redouble their efforts to cause Velvet as much problems as they could.

"Ugh. Well, my appetite's done for. I'm out."

"Well, this atmosphere is unpleasant. I shall also be leaving."

With this, Yang and Weiss had excused themselves from the table. Following suit were Ren, Nora, and Blake. Still at the table, Jaune was thinking real hard on something. His mind was a whirl of activity. On the outside, Ruby and Pyrrha looked on, worry in their eyes.

And later on that night, after walking with Ruby back to their dorm, Jaune laid down in bed, his mind in turmoil. His team, and his friends, all showing him their support. But to him, it hurt. It hurt that they felt they needed to protect him. It hurt that they felt they needed to help him. It all. Just. Hurt. And so, closing his eyes, he let sleep take him. His dreams were filled with shadows, and pain. And, as they had been for the past several weeks, roses.

***Chapter 9. Well, sorry there wasn't too much difference from the actual episode here. Aside from giving Jaune a better showing in his fight with Cardin, and a little commentary, there really wasn't too much done here. I plan to divide the next chapter into two parts. The first half, from Oobleck's lesson to the rooftop scene, will be from Jaune's PoV. The second half, from the hallway to the Ursa fight, will be from Ruby's PoV. I hope this doesn't confuse any of you. Again, sorry for the lack of deviance in this chapter. See you in chapter 10***


	10. Jaune's Dice 2

It was morning. Well, it was a little before noon, to be more specific. Jaune, Ruby, Yang, and Ren were, along with their friends from team NNWB and the other freshmen, attending Professor Oobleck's World History Class. And boy was it an interesting class, to say the least. The teacher was all over the place. Literally. He would not stop moving. He was moving with a speed that made one wonder if his semblance was the same as Ruby's.

While everyone else was paying attention to Oobleck, or at least as best as they could while keeping track of his movements, Jaune was occupied. Several thoughts were taking up his attention, and none of them were related to the class. But at the front of his attention, currently blanketing the darker, more despairing thoughts in the back of his mind, was last night's dream. He'd been having odd ones lately. And for most of them, all he could remember was that roses were involved. But the latest one was slightly more lucid. He could remember the last part. And so vividly too. He kept replaying the dream in his mind, so that he would not forget.

_He was crying. He was crying because he had lost, again. Reminded that he had no talent for the sword. Reminded that he could not carry on his family's good name. Reminded that he could not be a hunter. It was just him. Crying. Alone. Always alone. Nobody would ever be able to understand his pain. He was weak. He was cowardly. And these feelings persisted. Like kicking the shot dog, he was always looked down on. _

_ And then the faces were there. All like stage masks, with false smiles, and crescent eyes not unlike his family's emblem, just looking down on him from above. He knew that the faces were to placate him. They were looking at him disapprovingly. Beneath those false smiles, they were making fun of him. They were looking down on him, thinking about how much of a stain he was on their good name. Watching him cry. All he could do was cry. And cry. And cry. _

_ But the faces began to retreat. No longer did he hear their vile laughter. No longer did their faces cast shadows over him. They were backing up from something. No. It was someone. A hand was on his shoulder. The faint scent of roses came from this stranger behind him. Looking around, he saw a girl. Or, at least it appears to be a girl. Short, and wearing a dress. No. A skirt? He could not see her face. It was framed in shadows. But he did see a glint of silver. And then she spoke. He could not hear all of it. But he managed to make something out. It sounded like "_I'm here for you"_, but he could not be sure. But regardless, her words comforted him. He stopped crying. Looking back to the faces, he noticed they were cowering away. From her. No. From them._

Snapping back to reality, Jaune noticed Professor Oobleck looming over him. The hyperactive Professor looked rather disappointed. Or was that annoyance? Jaune couldn't tell what the Professor was thinking. He could tell that his face looked serious. Maybe he ran out of coffee.

"Well well well, Mr. Arc! Feeling like contributing to the class?"

"Uhh, well. . ."

"Excellent! This is Excellent! Now, what was the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces, hmm?"

"Oh, uhhh," looking around, Jaune found himself panicking. He didn't know the answer to this! Looking back, he noticed that one of the girls from Team NNWB, Pyrrha, was trying to mime an answer for him. Sadly, he had never been very good at charades. Putting her hands in circles over her eyes, he blurted out the only thing he could think of. "Glasses?"

"Funny Mr. Arc! Very funny! Well well, Cardin! Would you like to answer for him?

"Well, isn't it just because animals are easier to train?" To which a few people began to snicker. Mostly his little gang of misfits and a few of the less scrupulous individuals.

"Not very open minded, are you Cardin?"

"What's it to you, Belladonna? Got a problem?"

"No. In fact, I have the answer. It's night vision. Most faunus are known to have near-perfect vision in the dark. General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." This last comment, aimed towards Cardin, got the entire class to chuckle.

"Well Mister Winchester, it seems that both you _and_ Mister Arc are in need of some extra help. Please stay behind after class."

The lesson continued until the bell rang. Staying back, Jaune and Cardin had to deal with Professor Oobleck giving them a lecture on thier poor showing in his class, and reminder that Beacon was a prestigeous academy and that the two had to uphold it's standards. After all, they had earned their way into the academy.

Leaving the classroom, Cardin shoved Jaune down in the hallway. Ruby, who'd stayed behind for Jaune, helped pick him up.

"You know, I really wouldn't mind breaking his legs. And maybe an arm. You know what? Come with me Jaune!"

Leading him by the hand, Ruby pulled Jaune up to the roof. A pleasant breeze was blowing, and Ruby's cape could be seen billowing in the wind.

"Uhm, Ruby? I don't think this would solve my problem. I could always become a farmer or something," said Jaune, as he looked over the edge. Seeing the perpexplity in Jaune's face, Ruby was confused herself for a second. After realizing what Jaune meant, she got a little flustered.

"What? N-n-no! No no no! That's not why I brought you up here." She stuttered, as she pulled him away from the roof's edge. "I brought you up here so I could offer to help you. I know you may not be the _best_ fighter here, and you're having some trouble with the fighting and such, so I want to let you know I can help."

"You... you think I need help?"

"No Jaune, that's not what I meant!"

"But you just said it."

"No Jaune. I mean, everyone needs a little wind at their backs, right? You're not much different from the rest of us. You also made it into Beacon. That means a lot!"

"Except I didn't _earn _my way into Beacon. I never went to combat school, I never got a proper Huntsman's training. I used fake transcripts to enter Beacon. _I lied_!"

"Wh- what?" Ruby looked dumstruck, as though her own sister had just betrayed her. She couldn't believe what Jaune had just told her.

"Look, I'm sorry Ruby. It's just. It's just that this is what I've always wanted to be. Like my father. Like my grandfather. I wanted to be a warrior. But I never showed the aptitude for it. Never."

"But what about with the Nevermore? You were totally good back then! Amazing even!"

"That was out of pure luck Ruby. I barely know how to control my aura." _Yeah, I could only control it because you asked me at the time, and I didn't want to let you down._

"Then please Jaune, let me help you!"

"No, I'm tired of being the damsel in distress. I'm tired of always having to rely on you guys to help me. I'm tired of just being the loveable idiot who sits back while his friends do the work. If I can't do this myself, then what good is it?"

Ruby was frozen in place. Jaune, still looking as stressed and angry as before, just left her there. Brushing past her and exiting into the staircase, Jaune afforded one last glance towards Ruby. She just stood there, back to him, looking down on the roof with her cape billowing in the wind. For a moment, he felt guilty, and considered going back to apologize. But then Cardin appeared. Wrapping his arm around Jaune's shoulder, he started.

"Well well! I overheard you from my dorm. So you snuck into Beacon? I never expected you to be such a rebel."

"Please Cardin, don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry buddy, I would never rat on a friend like that."

"A. . . friend?"

"_Of course_. We're friends now Jauney boy. And as long as you're there for me when I need it, we'll be frineds for a _long time_. Now, as a friend, I'd like to ask you for a favor. You see, I don't have any time to do Professor Ooblecks little report. So, mind being a pal and doing it for me?" Being met back with a blank face, Cardin took that as a yes. "Great! And don't worry Jaune, your secret's safe with me."

Two weeks have passed since Cardin found out about Jaune's darkest secret. Things had been awkward between Ruby and Jaune for some time, too. Keeping their distance from one another was starting to take it's toll on Ruby. At the present time, it was almost curfew, and Ruby was heading back to her dorm.

_Why Jaune, why? I could've helped you. I don't want to see you like this_. Ruby was again brooding over her now distant teammate. He had been staying out long with Cardin, whom Ruby suspected had found out about Jaune's secret. She wanted to do something to help. But what could she do? With what Jaune's been doing lately, she hasn't had a chance to talk to him. As she walked back to her dorm, her thoughts in a maelstrom, she saw Jaune outside of their dorm. _He's here! Good, I won't waste this opportunity!_

"Jaune, we need to talk."

"Uwhaa! Oh, Ruby. Err..." Jaune looked awkward. As he should. He had been avoiding Ruby ever since the day on the rooftop. Secretly, he was glad she was here, although he also felt guilty.

"Listen Jaune, you've been acting strange lately. What's wrong? Is it the," Ruby looked around cautiously before moving on with her sentence " thing about your secret? If so, I just wanna help you Jaune."

"No Ruby, it's not that. It's just," Jauned sighed. He didn't know if he had the right to talk to Ruby like this. But he couldn't help but tell her his problems. "Cardin found out about my secret, and now I don't know what to do. This, after all that I told you. I'm a failure."

"Nope!"

"Huh?"

"You're not allowed to be a failure now Jaune. You're part of our team now."

"But what if I'm a failure at being your teammate?

"Nope!"

His back to the wall, Jaune slid down into a sitting position. Talking with Ruby wasn't easy. He often forgot how young she was, and how she had a different perception of things.

"You know? You're not exactly the easiest person to talk to about these kinds of things." This made Ruby smile a bit.

"Nope!" she said cheerfully, and with a little giggle. "Jaune, you may have been a leader before Beacon. And you may have been a leader the first time we met. But you can't be a failure now. We're with you. I'm with you."

Picking herself up, Ruby started into her dorm.

"Jaune, you deserve to be better on yourself. There are a lot of fighters in Beacon, but I think you could definitely be one of the best if you tried. Now, good night Jaune." And with a smile, she closed the door behind her. Going to the washroom, Ruby dressed in her usual night clothes and redied herself for bed. Satisfied that she could have a good heart-to-heart with Jaune, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

The next day, Professor Goodwitch had brought all the students out to Forever Fall for a new assignment. Todays assingment, it would seem, was to collect jars of sap for Professor Peach. After being divided into groups though, Jaune was nowhere to be found. A bit disheartened, Ruby set off with her older sister to collect the sap. Their other teammate, Ren, was being stolen away by his childhood friend, Nora.

Off away from the others, Jaune was with Cardin and the rest of his team. After having gathered six jars of sap, one too many at the behest of Cardin, Jaune sauntered back to the group.

"You know? I think I may be allergic to this sap."

"Great job Jauney boy! Now, I bet you're wondering why I had you collect one jar of sap too many, right?"

"Among other things."

"Well, follow us and you'll see." And with this, Cardin led him and the rest a little bit away. Perching up on a small hill, they were looking down on his team, and team NNWB. "Now, it's time for payback."

"What?"

"Yeah, the little red-haired one. Thinks she can act all tough and try to shame me! Well boys, Jaune here collected a nice big box of Rapier Wasps last night for us. Now, according to an essay you did for me a week ago, these little things just _looooove _sweets. So, here's the plan." At this, Cardin shoved one of the jars of sap into Jaune's hand. "You're going to throw this stuff all over her, got it?"

"Wait, I can't do this to Ruby!"

"Well, it's either that, or I have a chat with Ozpin and Goodwitch and you're on the first airship out of Beacon."

Looking from the jar, to Ruby, Jaune could only wonder what he should do. He couldn't harm Ruby, he couldn't! He wasn't sure yet what it was, but there was something about Ruby, something he felt, that told him this would be the worst mistake he could make. If it came to him or Ruby, the choice was clear. Steeling his resolve, Jaune turned toward Cardin.

"No."

"What?"

"I. Said. No!" And as if to emphasize his last word, he threw the jar of sap right at Cardin, splattering the pinkish goo all over his breastplate.

"Big mistake, Jaune." Him and his friends grabbing Jaune, they led him deeper into the forest. Finding a little secluded clearing, they threw Jaune down.

"Now, you're going to pay." But before Cardin or his gang could make a move, a loud roar had caught their attention. At the edge of the clearing, the largest Ursa that _any _of them had ever seen just appeared, and it was looking straight at Cardin. With the Ursa bearing down on them, team CRDL could only run in fear, leaving their leader behind.

Meanwhile, back with the rest f the students, Ruby was still collecting her sap. In the midst of her thinking about Jaune, she heard a commotion. Running out from the trees were three of the members of team CRDL, Russel, Dove, and Lark all shouting "Ursa Ursa!". They looked absolutely terrified. Yang, being ever so delicate, grabbed the one with a silly green wisp of hair on his head by his collar, and dragged his face near hers.

"What's going on?"

"There's a huge Ursa back there, and it's got Cardin!"

"Jaune!" Crying out his name, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose off of her back. Turning towards her teammates, she began to bark orders. "Yang, Ren! Go find professor Goodwitch and let her know what's happening! There may be more!"

Turning towards her teammates, Pyrrha barked a similar order. "Weiss, Nora, you two go as well." Nodding their consent, the two left off with Yang and Ren, as they raced to reach the teacher in time.

The remianing three; Ruby, Pyrrha, and Blake, rushed to where Jaune was supposed to be. When they got there, they saw a massive Ursa, easily several meters tall, looking hungrily towards a downed Cardin. Raising it's paw, which was easily larger than Jaune's shield, it prepared to strike down the fallen hunter. Ruby was about to make her move when something caught her eye.

"Raaaaah!"

It was Jaune! Putting himself between Cardin and the Ursa, Jaune blocked it's massive paw, and forced the Grim back a bit. With a small distance opened between him and the Grim, Jaune rushed forward and slashed at the Ursa with all his might, causing the beast to falter a bit. Not missing a beat, Jaune placed his shield in front of him, braced himself, and tackled the Ursa, causing it to stumble back.

With more agility than anyone thought such a large body would be capable of, the Ursa quickly righted itself, and took a slash at Jaune. Jumping to avoid the slash proved to be a bad idea, as the Ursa came around with another claw. Putting his shield up, Jaune could only mitigate the damage done, as he was sent flying back several meters. Picking himself up, Jaune flung himself again at the Ursa, taking yet another heavy hit to the shield, but not before wounding the Grim's great arm. Getting himself back up, Jaune glanced at his scroll and checked his aura readings. He was getting Red. He had to end this, and soon.

Readying himself, Jaune looked over to his large ebony opponenet. Riasing his shield in front of him, Jaune charged without hesitation, as did the Ursa. Ruby was tense, watching as her friend performed this last act of desperation. Raising Crescent Rose in case anything went on, Ruby still waited. _You can do this Jaune, I know you can. _Just a few meters away now_. Prove that you have every right to be here_. One meter_. Prove it Jaune! _And they met. The Ursa struck, swinging it's unijured arm down. At this, Jaune raised his arm. Concentrating more than he ever had before, Jaune forced his aura output to it's limit. The beast met with resistance, as Jaune's shield coupled with his aura enhanced strength stopped it's claw. Forcing the mighty Grim back, Jaune swung his blade towards it's neck and, with a clean stroke, he had decapitated the Ursa.

Joy. Elation. Pride. Ruby could not describe how she felt seeing this. Jaune had just proven everyone who had ever doubted him, himself included, wrong. He did it, he managed to do it! She watched as Jaunewent over to Cardin, and offered him a hand up. Cardin looked stunned, shocked. But his shock was soon replaced with awe. Accepting Jaune's hand, Cardin picked himself up.

"Holy crap Jaune!"

"Don't you ever mess with my friends- no, my team. Don't you ever mess with my team, ever! Especially not Ruby." Turning his back to Cardin, who now looked dejected, Jaune threw in one final line. "And don't you tell anyone what you saw here today, got it?" With this, Jaune simply walked away. Bruised, cut, and battered, but with his chest out and pride in his step.

Later on that night, Jaune had called Ruby up to the rooftop.

"Look Ruby, I know I was a fool. I may not deserve your forgiveness, but please. Will you help me train?"

Smiling like a kid in a candy shop, Ruby was ecstatic. Jumping at Jaune and wrapping him in a massive hug, she replied. "Yes Jaune! Yes yes yes! I'd be more than happy to help you!" Still hugging him, Ruby was spinnign Jaune around like a pillow, despite his being larger than her.

Framed by the fragmented moon up high, this happy and foolish pair began to discuss the specifics of Jaune's training. It wouldn't be easy, but Jaune could do it. He would do it.

As he discussed this with Ruby, he felt warmer and warmer. Happy at the prospect of getting to spend more time with her. _Wow, spending time with Ruby is so much fun. But that feeling from before. Do I like Ruby? _Pondering this, Jaune let off a small chuckle. _Hmm. Well, whether I do or whatever, I'm glad to be with her._

** *Afterword**And that finishes chapter 10. So, I kinda fit Jaunedice and Forever Fall together for this one. I hope you enjoyed it. It was fun to write about Cardin being attacked, though I wish I'd thought to put that half in Jaune's perspective so I could have gone more into. . . detail, about that. Oh well. Live and learn, right? Well, at least we finally have some progress. It's boring when one side doesn't admit their crush on the other. This will make it more interesting, wouldn't you agree? Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the double release.***


	11. Sinking Arkos

***Author's Note**Yo, Dravyn here. I'm glad to see the last two chapters were received well. From here, I'm going to advance the romance a bit. This chapter is going to be a boner-killer for the PyrrhaXJaune fans. Sorry for any of you out there reading this. Anyhow, this chapter will be from Jaune's PoV. So, without extending this further than it needs to be, enjoy.***

_I like Ruby, huh? _

This was the sole thought occupying the mind of a certain goofy, blonde Huntsman in training. As it was the weekend, and everyone else on his team had already made plans to go out, Jaune was spending the day alone in the room. Lounging on the couch watching some old re-runs of that Achieve Men show, and not paying attention even as the token minority of the group proceeded to dominate his compatriots for the umpteenth time, Jaune was lost in this thought. After the incident with the Ursa Major, he had accepted Ruby's offer to teach him. Around that time, he had realized the faint warmth he felt around Ruby might be love.

_Sure, why not like Ruby? She's exceptionally skilled for her age, an excellent artist and chef, and is kind and caring. On top of it all, she's unbearably cute. Yang, her sister, might be a bit more on the sexy side of things, but Ruby just outshines her for some reason. Odd how two siblings could be so different. _At this thought, Jaune made a mental note to inquire about the details of their relationship in the future._ Oh, but speaking of Yang. . . Oh no._

And Jaune had every right to be afraid. He had seen how much of a Knight Templar Older Sister Yang could be. Just last week, while they were eating their lunches, some random guy came up to the table. Jaune had thought at the time that he was going to try hitting on Yang, like _every other_ male in the school has done. But no. Instead, he had targeted Ruby. He was about to try caressing her face (and act that had Jaune considering pulling his shield off and smashing the guys head in) when Yang grabbed his arm. Getting up and grabbing his arm with her other hand, she threw him across the courtyard they were eating in, and into a wall. Did I say into a wall? I meant _through_ the wall. A good hole was left in the wall, and a few windows were taken out too.

"Nobody touches my little sister, got it? Nobody." With fire in her eyes, and hair, Yang made this menacing statement to each and every male within ear shot. After which, she was taken to the headmaster's office and somehow only let off with a warning. The other guy? Not so lucky. He was stuck in the infirmary for a week, with fractured ribs and a concussion. Due to his absence, his team could not participate in the qualifiers for the upcoming Vytal Festival tournament. So they tried to take revenge on Yang. She sent each one of them to the hospital. This time, no punishment. Legitimate self-defense. Bottom line is that ever since these events took place, Ruby has been officially marked as off limits.

*Gulp*

_This is gonna be hard. . . How do I get Yang to allow this?_ I need some advice. Going through a mental list of all the people he knew, Jaune was trying to decide who would be the best to ask. _Definitely not Ruby or Yang. Weiss doesn't seem like she'd know much about romance. Blake might help, but she scares me. Nora. . . well, no. Not Nora. Ren might be good with this stuff. Then again, he has to deal with Nora, so I'm sure handling girls isn't easy for him either. Maybe I could ask Pyrrha? Well, sure. She's a girl, and she's nice. Maybe she could help._

At this, Jaune got up off the couch and headed for the front door. Just as he was about to leave, he heard a small knock. Wondering who would be knocking on his door at noon, on a weekend no less, he opened it up. To his surprise, he saw Pyrrha, the very girl he was going to for advice.

"Oh, uh. Hey Jaune. I noticed that your team was gone and I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me for some tea?"

"Oh, sure. I was just coming to see if you were in, Pyrrha."

At this, Pyrrha seemed to become faintly pink around the cheeks. Was she feeling well? Maybe she's sick. I don't think I should drag her out when shes not feeling so well.

"Uhm, Pyrrha? Are you feeling fine?"

"Oh yeah. I'm just fine. Really. Now, about that tea..."

_Well, if she says she's fine._ Following Pyrrha into town, Jaune was led to a nice little cafe. The place seemed relatively busy. Now that he thought about it, this place was just recently opened, right? He had heard Ruby talking about it before. She said the chocolate chip cookies here were simply amazing. Taking a seat, the two ordered something to eat. A cup of tea and a slice of some sort of strawberry covered cake. A small espresso and a couple of chocolate chip cookies for Jaune.

"So Pyrrha, there's something I've got to ask you."

"W-what is it Jaune?" She seemed a little nervous. Didn't know that the mascot for such a big cereal like Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes could get nervous like this. Maybe she's failing a class and needs tutoring?

"Well, uhm. . . Sorry, this is kind of hard to say." Starting to feel a little awkward at the prospect of asking Pyrrha for relationship advice, Jaune was about to just forget it all together. But looking at his plate, and the cookies on it, he had remembered why he wanted to talk to her in the first place. _This is for Ruby! _"Listen Pyrrha, there's this certain red-haired girl that I like. But I'm not exactly sure about how I should do this. I mean, despite being near each other a lot, I find it's hard to tell her how I feel." Now Pyrrha was really turning red. _Is she sick?!_ "Uhm, Pyrrha, are you sure you're not sick or anything?"

"Oh no no no no! I'm fine Jaune, really, I am. I'm just a bit surprised. I didn't know you felt that way."

"Yeah well, neither did I until recently. She's been such a big help to me, and I found myself growing to like her more and more. She's even in my dreams now. Can you believe it?"

Okay, now before I proceed, I should mention that Pyrrha's face was currently a deeper shade of red than Ruby's cape. Jaune, for the life of him, could not figure out why. She said she was okay, right? Maybe it's just warm in the cafe or something? But even if it was, Pyrrha was dressed lightly compared to Jaune, who was wearing a not-so-thin black jacket and metal plate armor. So if she wasn't sick, and she wasn't warm, then why was she lighting up like a festival tree? Meh, Jaune just pushed this to the back of his mind.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Pyrrha. Listen, I'm serious about this. But there's one major problem between us. A obstacle if you will."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha all but freaking screamed his own name at him. Startled, Jaune nearly spit out the espresso he was sipping. Looking to Pyrrha, who was slightly panting and as red as any apple, she had stood up, hands slammed on the table in front of her. What was going on?! "Listen Jaune, if you really feel like that, then nothing will be an obstacle! You just have to hit the obstacle head on!"

Even if she all but spit the words, and some cake, into his face, Jaune realized that Pyrrha was right. He had no choice but to confront Yang about getting permission to date Ruby. Whatever it took, he would make the blonde understand how he felt. And if it wasn't enough, then he would take whatever she threw at him, and throw it just as hard, right back at her.

"You're right Pyrrha. You're absolutely right. Thank you. Now I know what I must do." Standing up, and leaving behind enough lien for the money, Jaune pulled Pyrrha into a hug, surprising her. "Thank you for the advice. Seriously, thanks. I've got to go tell Ruby how I feel about her!And if Yang wants to try and beat me up for it, then so be it. I'll take her on to prove myself if I have to. Well, I'm off. Good bye, Pyrrha."

Leaving the cafe, Jaune did not once look back as he rushed to get back to the dorm. Back to Ruby. But if Jaune had glanced back at the table he'd left Pyrrha sitting at, he would have noticed that she had sat back down. And wasn't moving. Just sitting there, looking down at the table with an expression as solemn as a gravekeeper's. And he would have noticed the tears.

"It was. . . Ruby?" If he'd stayed, he would have heard her utter those words. He would have heard the hurt, and the pain in them. And the malice.

Meanwhile, wholly ignorant of Pyrrha's emotional turmoil, Jaune was on his way back to face the music. He was going to do this. He was. But getting to the dorm, it was still empty. Searching around, he found a note taped to the wall next to the door. It was from Ruby, Yang, and Ren.

_Dear Jaune,_

_ In case you're wondering where we are, we went to train. That means me, Ren, and Yang. Meanwhile, where were you? We got back, and you were nowhere to be found. I was hoping to get some extra practice with you too. _

_ Anyways, if you see this note, we're at the combat training grounds. Come on over! We've still got to do a little sparring today._

_ Signed, your fearless leader_

_ Ruby Rose_

_At the training grounds. Where Yang has Ember Celica ready to kill me if I try anything funny. Oh shi-_

Not finishing his graphic thought, Jaune trudged over to the combat training grounds with less zeal than before. Dreading what would happen when the already adrenaline-pumped Yang and her fists of fury would do to him when he said what he wanted. But still, he had resolved himself to do this. He would not let his good friend, Pyrrha's, advice go to waste. So, finally reaching the training grounds, Jaune found Yang sparring with Ren, and Ruby off practicing her marksmanship (which, if you asked Jaune, didn't need improving at all).

After blasting Ren off like that one duo of annoying, similarly dressed idiots and their talking cat, the group noticed Jaune had shown up.

"Hey there Jauney! Wanna have a spar? Come on, let's go! I'm on _fire_!" Lame puns aside, Barb- no, Yang. Yang looked positively bloodthirsty. Jaune was almost wetting himself at the prospect of asking Yang.

"Hey Yang, let off. You just got through like, four rounds with Ren. Don't you think you have a break?" Yes! Ruby with the save. Jaune could all but see the wings of an angel behind Ruby's back. Crescent Rose, which was previously on her shoulder, was just flipped, business end down into the ground. Landing with a loud thud. "Let me handle this, okay?" And those wings just turned blacker than the heart of the cruel god who thrust him into such a situation._ My youthful romance comedy is fucked up as expected._

Deciding to focus on the psychotic object of his affections hell bent on fighting him instead of the murderous older sister behind him, Jaune readied himself to fight. _Great. I'm going to have to hold on with the confession. At least until I recover enough to withstand Yang's wrath. . ._

And so, after a couple of hours of exhausting practice, in which Jaune collected quite a few bruises, cuts, and assorted minor injuries, the group went back to their dorm for some rest. Jaune, resolving to talk to Yang tomorrow decided to get to bed early. Unaware that a storm was brewing. Unaware that the obstacles were piling up. No longer was the big-sister bruiser his only obstacle. In their dorm, Team NNWB's leader was plotting. Like the vicious wolf, planning to sink her fangs into little red-riding hood.

***Afterword**Well, here's to another chapter, eh? Again, I apologize to any fans of the PyrrhaXJaune pairing that may be reading this. It was for story progression. But as some of you may have guessed by this point, she will be getting some of the spotlight for the next chapter. The next chapter will be told from Ruby's PoV. Expect some fighting. Anyhow, see you next time.***


	12. A Pyrrhic Victory

** *Author's Note**Yo, Dravyn here. I know it has only been a few hours since I last updated, but I couldn't sleep. So I just poured back the Monster, got myself set up, and decided to bring you the next chapter. Now, to those of you who disliked how I treated Pyrrha, too bad. Necessary evil. But be happy. This chapter is gonna feature Pyrrha going all yandere and causing hell for Ruby and Jaune. So, here's chapter 12***

It was a normal morning like any. Ruby woke up, did a little yawn and stretch routine, and got ready to face the morning. Sparring with Jaune the night before was fun. She felt bad about all of the bruises she left on him. Well, not just the bruises. The cuts, the torn clothing. And the mild concussion she believe she gave him when she kicked his shield up into his face. Ooops.

She had been feeling a little awkward around Jaune lately. She wasn't sure what it was at first. She wasn't afraid to admit that she was rather dense when it came to romantic things. Yang always had to handle the boys that came after her. And boy, did plenty of them try. Ruby was by no means unattractive. Her tom-boyishly short deep ruby-red hair and mysteriously bright silver eyes captivated quite many a young boys heart. And outside of her naturally cute looks, her figure was also rather good. Anyone who looked at her would notice that, even in her heavy black combat-dress and billowing cape, she had a good figure, even if it was a bit petite. But certain people with strange hobbies found that even more charming.

Back to the subject at hand, since Yang had always handled her potential suitors, Ruby had very little experience in dealing with males other than her father and Uncle Qrow. Jaune was her first male friend that wasn't attacked by Yang instantly. Well, the first that hasn't tried to make an advance on her. But anyhow, with her lack of interactions, Ruby had assumed the warm feeling she had around Jaune was normal for friends of the opposite gender. But lately she had been talking with Blake about books and borrowed some novels. Some of what she borrowed were romance novels. Thankfully, Blake had the good sense to not read anything with sparkly vampires or exhibitionist werewolves.

These novels gave Ruby some insight on love. Or so she thought. But after reading through some half dozen or so romance novels (Blake thankfully didn't give her anything smutty. Come on, we all know she has some), she started to think the warm feeling was love. Well, why not? Jaune was nice, friendly. He treated her normally, despite her weapon freaking most of the other students out, and her reputation from having defeated Roman Torchwick causing people to treat her a bit too respectfully. With Jaune, she could just have fun. Smile, laugh. Be herself.

As it was still the weekend, and nobody else was up yet, Ruby decided to get some early training in. She was heading to the training grounds to get some marksmanship training done and maybe practice a few new moves she had thought of after watching Yang and Ren fight. When she got to the training grounds, she found someone else there. It was Pyrrha! But why was she just sitting there in the middle?

"Hello Ruby," she said, without ever physically acknowledging her presence. That was odd. Very odd. Aura can allow one to use extra sensory perception to an extent. But to know _exactly who_ had just arrived wasn't possible. "Did you know that almost exactly like clockwork, you tend to train here beginning around 6:30 in the morning. Well, of course you should. It's your schedule after all."

"Uhm, Pyrrha?" Ruby was starting to get freaked out. Pyrrha's demeanor was strange, and her knowledge of Ruby's schedule was absolutely weird. Pyrrha slowly began to stand up. As she began to turn around, Ruby unconsciously felt her hand sliding toward her weapon, Crescent Rose. _This is dangerous,_ she thought. _Something is wrong with Pyrrha._ Beginning a slow retreat, Ruby was about to exit the place when Pyrrha began to speak again.

"So, why you?" _W-what?_ "Why would he want _you_ over me?" _Huh?_ "What is it that you have that I don't?!" _Uwaa..._ "If only you weren't here!" At this, Miló and Akoúo̱, Pyrrha's sword/spear/gun and shield were pulled off of her back. Getting down into a combat stance, Pyrrha rushed at Ruby. Barely having time to react, Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose, unfolded it into the full scythe form, and blocked Pyrrha's attack. All in the blink of an eye.

"Pyrrha, what are you doing?!" Ruby cried out. She had no idea why her friend was attacking her. She mumbled something about a boy or whatever? And then just attacked her all of the sudden. "Why are you attacking me?! What did I do?!" Is she trying to kill me?!

"He! Chose! You! Over! Me! Over! Me! WHY?!" Accentuating ever word with a new attack, a strike with her shield or a stab with the blade, Pyrrha was swinging wildly at Ruby. In her good form, Pyrrha would be more rational, but here she was just swinging like a wild beast.

Stepping back to put some distance between the two, Ruby took about half a second to assess the situation. Pyrrha has gone crazy and was attacking her, would likely give chase, and she didn't think she could maintain her full speed for too long after her practice match with Yang last night. So retreat was not a viable option. Odds are, nobody would enter the grounds for another two or so hours. At least, that has been the case in Ruby's experience. So holding off for help would be rather difficult too. Her only option was to knock Pyrrha out and inform a professor of the situation.

Hesitating no longer, Ruby was combat ready. Getting into her stance, Crescent Rose pointed business end towards Pyrrha, left hand at the front, she pulled back the slide, putting another round into the chamber. The plan was to swing Crescent Rose around so it faced behind her, use the shot to augment her speed and close the distance between her and Pyrrha, and then swing Crescent Rose around, using another shot to augment to speed, and smash Pyrrha on the side of the head, knocking her out.

After firing the shot, Ruby raced towards Pyrrha. Even sore from the last night, her speed made her nearly invisible to any onlookers. Swinging the massive scythe at Pyrrha, Ruby was sure of her swift victory. But, whether it was luck or experience, Pyrrha managed to get under Ruby, and attempt a counter by upper-cutting Ruby with her shield. Side stepping, and dashing past Pyrrha, Ruby stuck Crescent Rose into the ground, using her as a brake to slow her down and spin back around to face Pyrrha.

_Oh, fudge! I was hoping we could end this quickly. I really don't want to be fighting with Pyrrha. Even if she's trying to hurt me, we're still friends. Right? _These thoughts rushing through her head, Ruby just barely snapped back to reality to see Pyrrha try to close the distance between them.

"One advantage a sword has over a scythe is that the sword is much more effective in close range." Voice positively seething with venom, Pyrrha spit this little tidbit at Ruby. And Pyrrha was right. In most cases, a medium range weapon like a scythe or a spear would be ineffective at such close quarters. But Ruby was unlike most cases. She didn't just use Crescent Rose because she looked cool or had the creativity of a seven year old with the Mr. Potatohead of weapons. No, she used it because _she could use it._

Successfully parrying Pyrrha in close quarters combat, Ruby forced her back with a large backhand swing from her scythe. Shifting her weapon to it's rifle form, Pyrrha began to fire at Ruby. _Pfft, child's play._ Ruby had been practicing dodging bullets practically from birth. Evading every shot with impunity, Ruby switched Crescent Rose back to the base gun form, and responded in kind. Firing back a round for each one Pyrrha had, Ruby was trading shot for shot with the crazy amazon. After a few narrow misses, one of Ruby's bullets had met it's mark. Had Ruby not imbued the bullets with some aura to dull them out, then Pyrrha would be dead. As it was, the bullet hit Pyrrha with the force of a hundred rampaging Boarbatusks. All that force, concentrated into a .50 cal bullet designed to make short work of even the strongest armors.

At the impact, Pyrrha was sent flying several dozens of meters into the nearby stands. Separated from her beloved Miló and Akoúo̱, and probably suffering from a few broken ribs and a concussion, Pyrrha was down for the count. Even with her aura being used to improve her natural healing (and to be used in a situation where she was barely conscious was worthy of praise), Pyrrha was showing no signs of recovering any time soon.

Pulling out her scroll, Ruby sent a message to everyone on her team, praying that at least one of them was awake. She didn't dare to leave Pyrrha here alone in this state. Nor did she want to see Pyrrha lay there forever. Getting a ping from her scroll, Ruby checked to see that Ren was awake, and was bringing academy's nurse on duty.

The events of the next couple of hours were a blur. The nurse, on arrival, nearly had a heart attack. Pyrrha was in bad shape. Bad. Taking her to the school infirmary, the nurse bandaged Pyrrha's wounds. The rest of team NNWB had been roused from their sleep, or pulled away from whatever they were doing, and brought to the infirmary. As Ruby was also involved in the mess, team RAYR was called in as well. With the headmaster in attendance, Ruby gave an account of what happened. Well, a very watered down account that is. According to Ruby, she and Pyrrha were training, and Pyrrha had asked Ruby to shoot at her so she could practice dodging ballistics. One shot had hit Pyrrha, and despite using her using aura to mitigate the impact, she had been sent flying.

After giving her report, and the rest of the two teams confirming they knew nothing about this, save Ren who was asked to bring the nurse, the two groups hung around waiting for Pyrrha to regain consciousness. After waking up, she was surprised to find everyone crowded around the bed. At which, nora started going on and on about how dangerous that was, how they were all worried, how dodging bullets was almost useless because Grim don't use guns, etc. The entire time, Ruby could see the gears in Pyrrha's head working as she tried to figure out what the hell Nora was saying. After the little gathering had gone on for too long, everyone began to leave. Ruby was the last person to stay in the room.

"So, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you not tell Ozpin and Goodwitch the truth? That I attacked you with the intent to hurt you."

"Wasn't it just training?" Ruby had always been incredibly good at lying, or playing a part. She could keep a secret better than most, and could tell a story of complete fantasy with a straight face. She _knew _it wasn't just training. She _knew_ Pyrrha was trying to hurt her. But she didn't care. She just didn't want to see her friend in trouble.

"You know that it wasn't training, don't you?" Pyrrha wasn't shouting, or even angry any more. She was calm. Calm, and curious. "You know that I was trying to harm you. You know that, and yet you still lied. Why?"

"You were trying to hurt me?" Ruby asked with a slight tilt of the head, and an exaggerated hand gesture where her pointer finger was poking her cheek. "I really thought we were only sparring. Hmm."

". . . . ."

". . . . ."

With this silence, Pyrrha and Ruby just started at each other. The younger, more energetic red-head was smiling. The older, more experienced one was sizing up her younger foe. Pyrrha could not figure Ruby out for the life of her. She was an enigma, this little girl. Maybe that's why Jaune chose her?

"Fine. You're right. We were simply sparring. And you won this time. But I will not give up."

"Uhm, what?"

Pyrrha was starting to give Ruby a headache. After bidding her a farewell, Ruby left to go back to her dorm. The events of the day were tiring, and Ruby felt like she needed a nap. Opening the room, she found her older sister lounging around on the couch, watching some old TR Adventure episodes. She seemed to love those shoddy drawings they used for the animation. Admittedly, the characters were funny. There was even this blonde one who made puns as bad as Yang's.

After hopping into her bed, Ruby was about to nod off. With a bunch of thoughts just going through her head, she eventually settled on one of her and Jaune, sparring. She'd been thinking a lot about Jaune lately, and this brought her back to her thoughts from earlier. She likes him. Or she thinks she does. What else could it be? But she had no idea how to interact with boys her age. Thinking about what she should do, she decided to ask the one person who she knows has experience with guys. Walking out to the living room, she called to her older sister.

"Yang? Can I ask you for some advice. . . .?"

***Afterword**Well, double releases are not easy on my creativity. Sorry to all Pyrrha fans for leaving her hospitalized. She attacked Ruby without provocation. Rest assured, she will return later to mess with the happy couple. So yeah, any of you who have seen enough anime, cartoons, television, or movies will probably know what's going to happen next based off of the last couple of paragraphs. No spoilers in the comments section please.***

** *So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this Monster and sugar fueled chapter. In the next chapter, things are going to **_**heat**_** up. There will be confrontations, complications, and likely some confessions. Look forward to the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed. See you next time.***


	13. The Troubled Knight

** *Author's Note**Hey, what's up? If you've read this far, then thank you for supporting my series. I want to take this time to address someone who complained that I took Pyrrha OoC, or Out of Character, to support a "ship that will not happen." In response to you, I have two arguments. The first, is that we've only had a few episodes so far. 16 to be precise. And few of them show Pyrrha. We don't know her personality, nor her character. I simply made her character to suit my story. And the second is that you say I'm supporting a ship that's unlikely to happen, despite the other ship having just as little proof or support. I'm simply writing to support the one I do like. Bottom line, don't complain. We don't know her character, and there's nothing yet to say that this shipping is the "crack ship." If you don't like it, don't read it. I won't lose sleep. That's what energy drinks and insomnia are for.***

** *For the rest of you who do like this series, or at the very least are interested in it, please enjoy this chapter. To anyone else, keep the negativity to yourselves. Constructive criticism, or suggestions please. Not complaints.***

The day started out odd. At least that what Jaune was thinking. He'd been woken up at an ungodly hour on a weekend to find out that Ruby and Pyrrha were sparring, and that Pyrrha was injured from a stray bullet! Well, it wasn't a good idea for her to try and dodge shots fired from Ruby's weapon. That was almost as suicidal as asking Yang for Ruby's hand in marriage.

*Gulp*

_Yeah, suicidal, heh heh heh... Oh man, I'm so dead._ Jaune was currently experience anguish over his plans to confess to Ruby. Ruby was perfect! She had good looks, cooking skill, combat skill. Hell, she could even smith like a prodigy and draw like a pro! On top of it all, she had a good personality. She was kind, geeked out over weapons in a rather adorable manner, and usually kept a positive attitude. Even in battle. Well, that was more like she went temporarily insane. But Jaune preferred to play that part down a bit. After all, what's a little battle lust? It keeps some people sane, and others from taking out any repressed anger on an unfortunate nearby blonde warrior.

Currently lounging around in the courtyard on one of the few benches there, Jaune was lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of the girl he liked, her hot headed older sister with a hair trigger temper, and of his friend in the infirmary. One thing he errantly wondered is why Ruby stuck around until the end. Maybe she and Pyrrha were closer friends than he knew? Well, nobody ever said he was good with relationships. He was bad with forming them, bad with maintaining them, and bad with noticing them.

Just sitting around and watching the clouds, Jaune did not notice the students parting for a fiery blonde. He did not hear said blonde's gauntlets whir and click to life. He was not aware of the blonde approaching him until it was far too late. Snapping out of his little reverie, Jaune noticed students around him looking at him and whispering. Did he have something on his face? Unsure of what was going on, Jaune was sure of one thing. It was getting warmer. Odd. Fall was starting to set in.

"Oh Jauney boy, we have some talking to do."

"Eeeek." Jaune's blood began to turn cold. Spinning around, he found himself face to face with Yang. Hair ablaze, eyes as crimson as her sister's cloak, and Ember Celica ready to smash anything, or anyone, to hell. Did she find out?! Oh shi-!

Without stopping to even consider it, Jaune ran. He didn't think about it. The thought never eve crossed his mind. It was a subconscious reaction. His fight or flight mechanism had kicked in, and told him his only chance was to run like hell and pray that he managed to reach a professor before Yang reached him. Without even looking back, he could tell she was chasing him. How? Because every student before him parted ways with looks of sheer terror on their faces, and he knew he couldn't inspire that kind of terror. As far as he was aware, only five things in Beacon could. One of Professor Port's boring stories, one of Professor Goodwitch's punishments, an Ursa Major, Ruby's scythe, and Yang when she was pissed. He ruled out the first four of those because they were less likely.

"Ooohh Jaune, get back here! We need to have a _nice! Long! Talk! About! My! Baby! __**SISTER!" **_As if to demonstrate how serious her "talk" would be, she was launching blasts at him, accentuating each word with another round. Each round barely missing Jaune, destroying the walk way and the foliage around him. Students were practically panicking to get out of his way, lest Yang miss and hit them instead. Despite how comforting it was to have on him, and how much help it would be, Jaune was glad he had left his weapon and shield at home. Less weight meant he could run faster. And he did not want to slow down.

Rounding a corner and entering the main school building, Jaune felt that he may be safe for a while. Closing and locking the door behind him, he felt this would hold Yang off for a few seconds. He was praying that she would not destroy school property. It was about two seconds later that Jaune became an atheist. Hearing a loud bang behind him, Jaune spared a quick glance backwards, only to find Yang charging him like a wild Boarbatusk.

"What's wrong Jaune? Discussion getting a little too _hot _for you?!" _Oh man, how does she have the time to make up puns while trying to kill me?!_ Running through the hallways at a speed that would get him sentenced to detention for a month, Jaune continued to simply try and survive. Fortunately, the blasts from her gauntlets seemed to have stopped. _At least it seems she has some respect for school property._ Clinging to this hope, Jaune rounded the corner. . .

Only to find a dead end. Turning around to try and backtrack, Jaune saw Yang slowly approaching him._ Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!_ Jaune knew he was screwed. His only hope was if she tried blasting him, missed, and created a hole in the wall through which he could escape. But he doubted it. The blonde loved to brawl. He didn't think she would waste a shot on him if she could just pummel him to death with her bare hands.

_With Yang slowly stalking her way towards him, Jaune started a mental will of sorts._

_ Dad, I'm sorry that it came to this. The Crocea Mors will probably be returned to you._

_ Mom, I'm sorry that I forgot about your birthday last year._

_ Grandpa, I'm sorry I'll never become a hunter like you wanted._

_ Ren, I'm sorry that I'll never be able to pay you back those 5 lien I borrowed._

Yang was upon him now. Giving whatever heavenly being he worshipped to one last chance to save him, Jaune started praying. With Yang just a couple of meters away, Jaune was about ready to keel over from the gut wrenching fear he was feeling. Never taking his eyes off of Yang, Jaune started to retreat as far back as he could now. Hitting a wall, and realizing that his chances were up, he decided to do the only thing he could think of.

Getting down on his knees, Jaune bent over with his forehead on the floor, and his hands held together above his head.

"Please don't kill me!"

"Huh?" This confused Yang for a second. But regaining herself, she picked Jaune up by the collar, and brought his face close to hers. "And why shouldn't I? My baby sister is fifteen. _Fifteen!_ And here you go and seduce her like some gigo-"

"W-w-wait! Wait wait! I never seduced Ruby. I've kept things between us strictly as friends!"

"Then how do you explain my little sister liking you?!"

"Wait, what? Ruby... likes me?" Seeing that Jaune was sincere, Yang loosened her grip on his collar a bit.

"She came to me earlier for some advice. On_ guys._ A subject Ruby has _never _approached me about before. And she brought you up. So I figured you must have done something to try and corrupt or seduce my innocent little sister."

"Yang," Jaune deadpanned, "I swear to you on threat of being beheaded by Crescent Rose that I have never done anything to try and seduce Ruby or to make her fall in love with me." Forcing all of that out with one breath, Jaune kept looking at Yang with fear in his eyes. Finally, just deciding to chance it, Jaune told Yang everything. He told Yang how he had been feeling about Ruby lately. He had told her that he was planning on getting her permission first. He had told her about his plans to confess had Yang (miraculously) given her consent. And the entire time he was speaking, Yang was silent. Watching Jaune intently. Glaring at him.

"Well," began Yang, after Jaune had made his little speech. "Allow me to ask you one question then."

"Uh..."

"Refusing would not be in your best interest."

"Yes sir!"

"Now, tell me. Why do you like Ruby?"

"Uhm..." Jaune didn't honestly know how to answer this. If he responded with something wrong, Yang would likely kill him on the spot. And his honest thoughts were kind of embarrassing. But, it was sink or swim now. "Well, my life wasn't exactly easy when I was younger. I wasn't the most skilled, and my parents and grandparents never let me forget it. I was made to train every day, often to the point of throwing up. But I never showed any great amount of improvement. And I could tell it was disappointing them, eve if they didn't vocalize it. Even the few friends I did have ridiculed me for not being able to fight as well as they could."

"Yeah, so? What exactly does this have to do with my baby sister?" starting to lose her patience, Yang tightened her grip on Jaune's collar, and pulled back one of her fists ever so slightly.

"Wait, don't kill me! I was getting to that part! You see, the thing is that Ruby was my first friend here at Beacon. And she didn't judge me. She was friendly to me. She didn't seem to care that I could barely fight. When we had just teamed up in the Emerald Forest, A couple dozen Beowolves had attacked us. She practically killed them all! I took down maybe half as much as her, if not less. And yet she was still nice to me. Didn't ridicule my abilities or berate me for my lack of skill. She simply treated me like a friend. It was the first time someone had ever been so nice to me, and not look down on or pity me for being unable to fight well. So, you asked me why I like Ruby? It's because she's a nice girl. Because she's nice even to someone like me."

Now Yang may not seem like it, but she did have a soft spot. Though she would deny it if you ever accused her, Yang was the type who loved to watch those sappy chick flicks or soap operas. And nobody besides Ruby had ever seen her cry from one. Well, nobody who'd avoided a trip to the hospital that is. Hearing Jaune's sad and pathetic tale made Yang feel some sympathy for the boy. Letting him go, Jaune slumped to the floor, kind of bewildered, and kind of relieved. Yang seemed to take a second to think about something.

Looking back at Jaune, she asked, "How do I know you have no ulterior motives? Like you're only after my little sister's body?"

"Whoa, what?" Turning slightly red, Jaune answered in a panic. "No no no! I don't think of Ruby like that."

"Are you telling me that my little sister doesn't look good enough for you?" Yang raised one of her fists, glaring down on Jaune with a look so frightening that even Grim would turn tail and run.

_Crap, is she looking for a reason to kill me?!_

"No no, that's not it! I just have too much respect for Ruby. She embodies the type of Hunter I've always wanted to be. Fearless, strong, and a good leader. She also has many good qualities about her. She's a great cook, a great artist, and an incredible athlete. Yang, I look up to Ruby. I would never do anything inappropriate to her."

Scrutinizing Jaune like a new pair of shoes, Yang checked him for any signs of lying. After a bit she had concluded that he had told the truth. Turning around and sighing, Yang began to walk back to the hole she'd made, hoping to find a teacher, apologize, and maybe get a lighter sentence. Pausing for a second, she looked back at Jaune.

"I'll allow it, for now. But there are three things you had better remember. Number one, if you make Ruby cry, I will kill you. Number two, if you cheat on Ruby I will kill you. And number three, if I think you're about to do anything inappropriate to her, I will castrate you and send them off to your mother in a plastic bag. Are we clear?"

Jaune barely managed to utter an incredibly weak "yes." He knew she was serious. About killing him, and about... well, he didn't want to think about that. No guy does. Shuddering at the thought, he began to say thank you, when Yang held up her hand and stopped him.

"Oh, and one more thing. If you dare to call me your "older sister" or any variation of it, the two of us will be taking a walk in the forest. And only one of us will be leaving. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

At that, Yang left. Jaune took a moment to collect himself. Getting up, he also started for the exit. He had managed to get Yang's blessing. Now the only thing left to do was talk to Ruby herself. Exiting through the very same hole he was the indirect cause of, he looked up at the clouds. Just another day at Beacon. Pyrrha gets hurt n the morning, and he almost gets hurt in the afternoon. Who knew being a Hunter was just as dangerous on a normal day as it was during a battle? Putting this aside, Jaune headed back to the dorm. If Ruby was there, he wanted to talk to her. If she wasn't, he would send her a message on his scroll to meet him there. Either way, Jaune was going to tell Ruby how he felt.

***Afterword**A~nd cliffhanger! Yeah, I know. That's rather mean of me, huh? Unfortunately, I've got an early day and I need to cut it off here. So for now, all I can do is promise you a new chapter tomorrow, and start the romantic stuff off with a bang. Well, maybe not a bang per say. But rest assured, there will be awkward romantic situations for the two. And maybe a new couple soon. . .***


	14. The Confession

** *Author's Note**Hey guys, Dravyn here. Time for the Crux (pun intended) of my little story. The past 13 chapters have all been for this moment; the confession. I took some time to plan this out (for once) instead of just doing it spontaneously while hyped up on Monster and sugar. I won't add any more boring things here, I'll leave those for the afterword. Without further ado, I bring you chapter 14***

Ruby was walking around Vale. She didn't know what else to do. When she had asked Yang for some advice on how to approach to subject of romance with Jaune, Yang had left abruptly and quite angrily. She wondered why Yang would just storm off like that. Maybe she needed to go to the restroom? Whatever it was, she hadn't waited for her big sister's return. Afterwards, she had decided to leave and head into town. No specific goal in particular, she had just wanted some time to think.

Heading down to her favorite cafe, _Dust in the Wind_, she sat down at her usual spot. She remembered about the time this place had opened. It was only a month ago, but getting in was nearly impossible then. She just happened to be passing by when the shop was opening and decided to step in. She somehow managed to become acquainted with the manager (that is a story for another time right there), and ever since had been a regular after school and on weekends. Flagging down a waitress, she ordered her usual; hot chocolate (with some extra milk), chocolate chip cookies, and a little dish of chocolate chip pudding. Handing over her customer appreciation card, she had the second to last spot clipped. One more visit, and she qualifies for a free sundae!

Waiting for her order to come, Ruby thought more about Jaune, and the events that led to them becoming friends and subsequently becoming teammates. It seemed so long ago that he had puked all over her boots, and earned the nickname "Vomit Boy." Now that she thought about it, that event was kind of funny. Who figured that she would make a friend from having her boots vomited over? Well, following that rather eventful meeting, she found out that he was a really nice guy despite apparently having a mother-complex and a weak stomach. Following that was the initiation, where Jaune quite literally dropped in out of nowhere. She had to admit, that part wasn't exactly fun, nor could she find anything funny about it. But the fight afterwards was awesome. The second one even more so. Then all the classes and the Ursa thing.

Thinking on all of this, her order came. Looking at her wonderful assortment of chocolaty sweets and drink, Ruby dug in. Her sweet tooth lit up like Yang's hair during her "special monthly time". After satisfying herself and paying her bill, Ruby bid the manager a fond farewell and left to go wander a bit more. She randomly thought about messaging Yang via her Scroll, to see what her sister was up to. Reaching for the little bag she kept at her belt, she realized she had forgotten her Scroll back at the dorm. Passing it off as nothing, she went ahead with her little walk.

Spending the day just heading from store to store, checking out clothes and accessories like any other normal girl her age, Ruby had picked u some things. A new sketchbook, a set of colored pencils, a new apron (Yang wanted to try on her old one and accidently tore it), and a basket of strawberries. Well, it was a good thing that her parent trusted her with a larger allowance than they did Yang. Yang found this was a bit unfair, but some events had led to her losing their trust and them having to drop the hammer on her harder than Magnhilde (again, a story for another time).

With with sun starting to get low, the sky turning an amber-orange color, and her arms starting to get full, Ruby decided to head back to the dorm. Arriving just before dark, Ruby stood before her door, anxious. She was a little worried about facing Jaune. Yang might have told him something, and she wasn't sure how she'd be able to face him. Steeling herself and heading on in, Ruby came face to face with Yang. Over her shoulder, Ruby saw Ren on the couch, watching some video on a couple of people walking into doors. I mean, they literally kept walking into More Doors. Weird. She never knew he was into that stuff.

"So Ruby, how'd it go?"

"Hmm? Well, I guess it went great?"

"Really? So you two are together now?"

"Huh? What's that about being together?"

"Wait, you never saw him?"

"Saw who? I was out all day in the town. I went to the cafe and got my usual, went shopping and bought some art supplies, strawberries, and a new apron. And speaking of my apron, how dare you ruin my old one! That was a gift fro-"

"Yeah yeah, I know!" Yang practically shouted. Turning away from Ruby, she started to mumble. "Damn coward! He stood up to me, and I gave him consent. And he still couldn't confess to her! I'm gonna rip his family jewels off and make a woman out of him!"

"Uhm, Yang? Is something wrong?"

Turning back to face her sister, Yang hurriedly denied it. "No no, Ruby. You were alone today? Never even got a message or anything on your Scroll?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot my Scroll in the dorm today. I was long into town before I even realized it."

"Oh, for the love of..." Yang was now trying to figure out how someone like Ruby could be her sister. Compared to Yang, Ruby could be a klutz. Yang usually attributed this to her sister being such a prodigy in weapons and combat that she lacks basic skills and abilities. Common sense and memory were two of the things she sometimes seemed to completely lack. But Yang loved her regardless. "Check your scroll. Now."

"Uhm... okay?" Going over to her bed and grabbing her Scroll from under her covers, Ruby booted it up and found a new message in her inbox. Opening it up, she checked and saw that it was from Jaune. The time shown below the message indicated that it was sent almost eight hours ago, just after she had left the dorm. Without further ado, she opened the message up.

_Ruby,_

_ Please meet me in the courtyard. I'll be waiting. _

_ -Jaune_

"Uhm, Yang? Has Jaune come back at all today?"

"No, why?"

"Uhm, nothing. I'm going to be going out for a bit. Put my strawberries away, please?" About to leave, Ruby had a thought and turned around. "Oh, and Yang? If I find any of my strawberries are missing, there will be no place on this planet safe enough for you to hide." And with a sweet smile, she turned around and left.

"Uhh, Yang?" Ren began. It seemed he was paying attention to the sister's conversation. "Are you okay? You seem a bit pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just praying that none of these strawberries go missing."

"Why?"

"When it comes to her strawberries, Ruby doesn't make death threats lightly. And did you see her petting Crescent Rose? She was serious..."

Leaving behind Yang and her partner, Ruby went to the courtyard. When she got there, she found Jaune sleeping on the bench. Well, he was complaining earlier about not getting much sleep. Looking over the sleeping Huntsman, she saw a notebook with a lot of crossed out sentences and stuff. Picking up the book, Ruby decided to look through some of what was written.

_**Ruby, I love you.**_

_** Hey Ruby? How are-**_

_** Ruby, do you want to-**_

_** Wanna go on a date? With me? Maybe?**_

_** Ruby, I know this is kind of sudden-**_

Reading through these, Ruby found that they were all confessions! Jaune wanted to confess to her?! What?! Wait, Jaune liked her too? The more Ruby read what was on the page, the more red she began to grow. Half of these seemed normal, but the rest were just plain embarrassing. She was so engrossed that she failed to notice Jaune waking up.

"Uhhhh, wha-? Ruby?"

"Jaune!"

Looking up from the page, Ruby found herself facing a somewhat drowsy Jaune. Jaune's eyes began to to adjust, and he began to wake up. The moons faint light allowed Jaune to see Ruby. Holding the notebook. _His_ notebook. The one he was planning his confession in...

"Waaah!" Lurching forward and grabbing the book from Ruby, he attempted to hide it behind his back. Face turning a deep crimson, he quietly asked Ruby, "Did you see them?"

"Yes."

The two teens stared at each other in awkward silence. They both knew how they felt. They both knew how the other felt. But neither of them knew how to say it. They just stared at each other, under the moonlight. Finally mustering some courage, Jaune finally spoke.

"Ruby, you read them, right? You read them _all?_"

"Yes Jaune, I did."

"Then you already know. So I might as well do this right." Bracing himself, Jaune got up off of the bench, and stared straight down at Ruby. Jaune fumbled, trying to grab Ruby's hands in her own. He finally succeeded after a few seconds of trying.

"Ruby!" her practically shouted at her. Well, nobody said he was good at this sort of thing. "Oh uh... Will you- err. Do you want go out with- no. Uh, well... Uhm..."

"Jaune, are you asking me out on a date?"

"...yes. So uhh... what do you say? Will you got out with me?"

"Jaune."

"Yes Ruby?"

Hopping onto her tip-toes, Ruby gave Jaune a quick peck on the cheek. Caught by surprise, he recoiled slightly. Then he just stared at Ruby, having trouble processing what had just happened.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Y-yeah. S-so, does this make us a couple now?"

"Uh, I guess? Maybe? Sorry, I'm not so sure how this works."

"Yeah, same. So uhh, what now?"

She honestly had no idea. She was completely ignorant of how love and stuff worked. Well, she could maybe talk to Yang about this. She's rather experienced with this kind of stuff. But for now, Ruby just stared at her partner. She just stood there, under the broken moon with her new boyfriend. Her first boyfriend. And she felt that everything was alright.

***Afterword**Well, as promised, they got together! The next chapter will begin Ruby and Jaune's little love comedy, complete with Yang's teasing and horrible puns, Weiss ripping on the happy couple, Nora being... Nora, and the rest of the two teams just heckling the two goofy hunters. As my idea pool is getting a little shallow, any suggestions or such are appreciated. Anyhow, to those of you who have read this far, I'm glad you're enjoying the series. Also, I haven't had a chance to say this, but thanks for enjoying this. It was my first try at writing romance, and to be honest I wasn't sure it would be received well. This pairing isn't exactly smiled upon, what with people preferring to throw Ruby to Weiss and Jaune to Pyrrha. But most of you seem to actually like this, so thank you for sticking around. I'll continue to write, and I hope you all continue to enjoy. See you next chapter.***


	15. Their First Date 1

***Author's Note**Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed chapter 14. For this chapter, I saw a suggestion and I loved it. Anyways, you probably saw the idea, but let me say this chapter is going to be about Ruby and Jaune's first date. This is going to be so much fun.***

It was Tuesday. The day before, the students had been informed by Professor Goodwitch that class would be canceled and that they would have the day off, due to most of the Professors catching a nasty virus that was going around. So to protect the students from their own teachers, class was suspended, and everyone got the day to do what they wanted.

In the co-ed dorm of Team RAYR, the students were peacefully sleeping. Except one. The leader, Ruby. She always had this thing about waking up early and getting some training in before the combat grounds got too crowded. But after the event with Pyrrha over the previous weekend, the combat grounds were closed to students until further notice. So, without much else to actually do, Ruby was drawing. She was just sketching some of the things in her life. Her sister, her team, the school, thee Grim, and her boyfriend.

Over the weekend, Jaune had finally worked up the courage to confess to Ruby, and now they were officially going out. But between the two, neither had a single minute's worth of experience with this type of relationship. So for the moment, Ruby and Jaune were mostly just keeping it between them for now, not sure how the others would react.

Well, being stuck in a room was not fun for Ruby. Despite it still being a bit dark out, as the sun was just rising, she decided to head into Forever Fall and do some hunting. If she didn't get some practice with her "sweetheart" in, she would go stir crazy. Said "sweetheart" being the bastardization of a scythe and a high-impact sniper rifle. A weapon so terrifying that even most Grim instinctively back away from it.

Getting herself dressed in her usual attire of a black with red-trim combat dress, black boots, and red flowing cape, she quietly crept out of the room and to her locker. Grabbing out Crescent Rose, Ruby put her in the special holster she had made for it across her back and left out for the forest.

Walking through Forever Fall, searching high and low for something to fight, Ruby was starting to get bored. There was nothing here! No Beowolves. No Boarbatusks. Not even one of the Ursa Major that nearly killed Cardin! After searching arund for the better part of two or so hours, Ruby had only managed to find a small group of Boarbatusks and a King Taijitu. The Boarbatusks were no problem at all, and the King Taijitu was easy once she separated the white half from the black half. Well, this was a waste of time. I would have gotten more training in just cutting down trees.

Deciding that she'd had enough, Ruby decided to head back and grab breakfast with the rest of the gang. Team NNWB would be joining them today, as they usually had. Getting back to the room, Ruby found nobody but Jaune was around. Well, she could hear Yang in the shower, trying to sing. Keyword: Trying. Ruby had to constantly remind Yang that her singing voice was terrible. She'd suggested that Yang take up an instrument, like the Saxophone or something. That just led to a lot of PG-13 rated puns.

Anyhow, seeing Jaune was a nice way to start her day. Sitting on the couch, with his back to her, he hadn't yet noticed that she'd walked in. Deciding to take advantage of this, Ruy quietly slipped off her boots, and tiptoed behind him. Slipping up behind him, she quickly placed her hands over his eyes.

"Wha- what?!"

"Guess who?" Ruby giggled.

"Ruby?"

Pouting, Ruby turned steeped back and waited for Jaune to look at her. "You know, you could have guessed wrong once or twice, just to be a tease."

"Oh, uhm. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Jaune." Giving him one of her warmest smiles, Ruby simply went behind Jaun and hugged him. She liked hugging him. Unlike Yang who was always hotter than the sun in the middle of July and who loved to crush her to death, Jaune was warm and gentle. Just leaning on him from behind, Ruby held him in this hug for a while. Unfortunately, she had not noticed the bathroom door opening.

"Uhh... what is going on here? Do you two want some space...?" Ruby froze. She turned around and saw the bathroom door wide open, steam pouring out, and Yang standing in the door way. She had been trying to avoid doing this stuff around Yang. Jumping away from Jaune, Ruby started looking around, unsure of what to do. "Relax Rubes. I already know you're dating Vomit Boy here."

Still a little embarrassed, Ruby dashed out of the room, leaving behind Jaune and Yang. Jaune was currently contemplating his chances of survival, should Yang try to kill him for getting to physical with her sister. He had his shield and sword under his bed, so if he could reach them, he'd be armed against her.

"Jaune, can I ask you something?" Yang questioned Jaune, carefully. She knew he was easy to scare.

Just as he was about to get to the part in his plan where he was deciding on whether or not to just block until Yang got tired or run away, Jaune snapped out of it. "Y-yeah?"

"Have you been on an actual date with my sister yet?"

"No."

"Really?", Yang sighed._ These two, I swear._ "Listen here, I'm letting you date Ruby without any interference because I'm sure that you're no threat to her and likely wouldn't have the spine to do anything gutsy, no offense." Letting her know that he wasn't offended, Yang continued. "But I also want you to treat my baby sister right. She may only be my half-sibling, but she's still very precious to me. As such, I want you to take good care of her. So, ask her out on a date."

"Wait, what?" Jaune could not believe what he had just heard Yang suggest. This was the very same Yang who threatened to castrate him, kill him, maim him, and do several other very... graphic things to him if he did anything to hurt Ruby. And she was suggesting he take Ruby on a date?

Leaving those two beside, Ruby was starting back to the dorm after calming down when she ran into Nora. Ruby and Nora had gotten along quite well since their initial meeting. They both discovered they had quite a few things in common; an appreciation for fighting, good cuisine, and an insane love of sweets. Ruby and Nora were in the middle of talking about what would happen if either of them were ever diagnosed as being Diabetic when Yang and Jaune showed up.

"Hey guys, whatcha talking about?"

"Well, I was browsing on the internet when I ran across this adorable little comic thingy. I think they call it a 5-comma or something?" Nora had no clue what she was talking about.

"You mean a 4-koma?"

"Right, that's it Yang! Anyhow, there's this little artist who doodles all these little 4-komas under the pen name LunaFurryIsland. One of them had this girl who was devouring cookies and lolipops and sugary coffee like a monster for the first three pictures, and the last picture was of a doctor telling her she had type 2 Diabetes. So me and Ruby were discussing what we would do if we ever got it..." and she went on and on about raiding medical labs all over Vytal and some other crazy nonsense.

"Well... anyone else hungry? Let's head down to the cafeteria. I hear they're serving waffles today." Nodding in assent, the four students went to grab breakfast. Upon arriving, they found that the others were already sitting at the usual table, waiting for them. Grabbing their food, everyone gathered at the table, and began some small talk.

While nodding absent mindedly to whatever crazy dream Nora was spouting off about this time, Yang thought back to her talk with Jaune. She figured he didn't have the guts to ask Ruby on an actual date, so she would have to set everything in motion herself. Waiting for Nora to finish, and for the conversation to dwindle, Yang struck.

"So guys... did you know that ruby and Jaune are now dating?"

At this, everyone at the table became completely silent. Everyone had stopped eating, and just stared at the blonde, and then turned their attention to the now apple-red partners. With all eyes on her, Ruby felt an increasing need to get out of there. Leaving a couple of strawberry waffles still on her plate, Ruby got up and ran at full speed out of the cafeteria. Nobody even saw her leave. She was so fast that it had taken the rest of the group a few seconds to notice she had left. After a short silence, Nora spoke up.

"Oh my god, is this true? Aww, that is so cute! I was thinking you two would eventually get together. And I mean together together, because you were so just adorable around each other. But isn't Ruby young still? Ahh well, it's only two years. Besides, as long as true lo-" Thankfully, before anyone got a headache, Ren had clamped his hand over Nora's mouth.

"So, Jaune. Is that true?", he asked.

"...yeah."

All eyes at the table just stared at him. Some of them just curious. Nora was excited and Yang was grinning like a certain fat purple cat. And Pyrrha just looked downright hostile. Not that anybody noticed. With her plan working perfectly so far, Yang decided to jump into the next step immediately.

"So, we all have a free day, right?" They turned towards Yang. A few of them sharing some knowing glances, as though they knew her plan. "So Jaune. Since we all have a free day anyways, why don't you and Ruby go on a date?"

It was at this time that it could be said that no matter how much if a bit- rude person she was, one had to feel sorry for Weiss. Sitting across from Jaune, she got the full brunt of his spit take.

"Wait wait wait, I can't do something like that! I don't even know what I would do!"

Yang, Ren, Nora, and Blake exchanged a few quick glances between the four of them. If Jaune had a more acute sense of danger, he'd have had chills going up and down his spines. "Don't worry Jauney boy, we've got you covered," Yang said with a grin that would make the devil's own heart flutter. _Oh crap_. "Blakey, Nora. You two go get Ruby. Take her shopping for some nice clothes. Drag her with you if you have to. You know what to do." She turned to Weiss. "Schnee." Weiss was still drying her face off from the earlier spit take, but gave Yang her attention. "You know good, classy places to eat at, right?"

With a haughty "Hmmph, just who do you think I am?", Weiss answered Yang's question.

"Good. Can you pull some of your _magic_ and find one that's nice, but not too overdone?"

"I'll see what I can do, but no more puns. Those are really juvenile and annoying."

"Awww, _Weiss_ so serious?" Nobody laughed. Nobody chuckled. Nobody even cracked a smile (except Nora, who's face seemed to be a permanent smile). They simply looked at her with an 'Are you kidding me? Did you really just use _that_ pun?' look.

"Anyways people, let's get to work! We gotta give these two kids a night they'll never forget!" Everyone basically nodded their assent, and got to work on their respective tasks. It was currently 11 in the morning. They had plenty of time to prepare a good date for the two.

While everyone was doing their thing, Pyrrha was simply looking at Yang with a look of well disguised hatred and fury. "You fiend!" she mumbled. In the midst of her silent fuming, Yang came over and dragged her along by the hand.

"Let's go Nikos, we're gonna get Jaune ready!" Pyrrha was almost loathe to do this, if it would make his date with Ruby a success. But the chance to maybe get to see Jaune in just his underwear was too appealing for her. "Come on Ren, you're helping out with this as well."

"Sure."

And with Yang at the helm, the six of them spent the next six hours prepping Ruby and Jaune for a date that one of them didn't even know about, and that the other was starting to get a little uneasy for.

On their end, Blake and Nora had taken Ruby to several stylish boutiques, going over different dresses with her, trying to find something that looked good on her. Blue, green, orange, yellow, purple. None of these colors seemed to work for her. But Blake and Nora didn't give up. After nearly a hundred rejects, they finally settled on a black spaghetti-strap dress with red frills. The two had to hold themselves back from wanting to jump her. Had her hair not been in it's usual wolfy mess, they might have serious tried crossing a line that Yang would have picked up and used to strangle them both. Feeling good on the choice of dress, the two took her around shopping for other accessories and such.

And back with Jaune, everything was hell. Or so it felt like to Jaune. For the past several hours, Yang had been grilling Jaune on how to hold a conversation with women, Ren had been teaching him proper mannerisms, and Pyrrha had been all but forcing him into different outfits. He felt that if karma ever decided to pay him back for all that she had done to him, she could start by working her magic on these guys.

So, after a long and excruciating day for Jaune, and an exhausting day for Ruby, the two teams decided to see how their work went. After finishing her hair, and putting a very light amount of make-up on her, Blake and Nor had deemed Ruby to be perfect. When she arrived where the others (sans Jaune) were waiting, there was an audible collective gasp. She was beautiful. The black and red dress complimented her hair so perfectly. And the silver rose hairclips they chose to tame her hair and the small silver bag they got her matched her eyes rather well to. Everyone present wanted nothing more than to glomp Ruby at the moment. The only thing holding them back was knowing that Yang would murder them all for even trying.

"Yang! Why am I all dressed up?" Saying nothing, Yang led Ruby to the hallway where Jaune was waiting. Opening the door, Jaune got a good look at Ruby, and his jaw nearly hit the floor. Stuttering like a fool for a few seconds, Jaune couldn't put together a coherent sentence. Yang smacked him lightly on the back, and led him off to the side for a quick chat.

"Listen here Jaune, you know what to do. We went over this a dozen times." Going over the details with Jaune one last time, while Ruby waited off to the side still wondering what the heck they were doing. Finishing up with Jaune, Yang brought him back over to Ruby. "You see Rubes, Jaune wanted to bring you out for a date today, but he wasn't too sure of what he should do. So he asked us for help." Ruby showed a look of understanding, as it dawned on her that all of their preparations for today had been for this date. "So, without further ado, go enjoy yourselves! And make sure to be home before 9. Any later, and I'll hunt you down and gut you like an Ursa, Jaune." Finishing her threat with a sweet smile, Yang saw the two off. Or so they thought.

Meanwhile, back in the room, everyone else was already preparing themselves. For what? Well, isn't it obvious? Yang, Ren, Pyrrha, Blake, Nora, and Weiss were going to spy on the date. They reasoned that they only wanted to make sure it went well. But we all know that's a load, right? After watching the two leave from the window, the six of them snuck out of the room, and into the night to "watch over" the two on their first date.

***Author's Note**Am I an asshole for turning this into a two-parter? Maybe. Doesn't matter. Anyhow, this is what I think the six of them readying Ruby and Jaune for a date would be like, to an extent. I hoe you all enjoyed this. The next chapter will go into detail about the date, switching between the happy couple, and the six stalkers. Think I should cause hell for six stalkers and make the date go smoothly? Or just mess around with both sides? Opinions welcome on that respect.***

** *Oh, and a couple more things. I noticed that some Arkos fanboys keep telling me that I'm a blind Rose Arc fan for missing "proof". I argue that there's little evidence to either, contrary to the belief of you diehard 's. A good quote from someone at the RWBY wikia that I think would make my point. **_**"**__**The power of interpretation. A single event can have multiple meanings when viewed from different perspectives. There may only be one truth, but as per human nature, we always view things differently from each other." -Maki Kuronami.**_** Basically, argue all you want, what you call proof is just your opinion. Now keep your biased opinions off of the comments, please.***

** *And finally, shout out to LunarisFuryAileron and VnixxR of deviantArt. Their 4-komas made my day quite often, and partially inspired me to do this series. Anyhow, I'll see you next chapter.***


	16. Their First Date 2

***Author's Note**Hey guys, Dravyn here with another exciting chapter of Love is a Knight-mare. I'm just wondering, but does anyone else like karma? Karma has always been a rather large influence on things I do. I love the thought that Something will always pay you back for your misdeeds. So, what is a misdeed? Murder, Arson, Jay Walking, Gossipping, and of course Stalking. So, after careful consideration of how I could make this date go, I decided to make Ruby and Jaune's date go relatively smoothly (with just a few bumps here and there), and I decided to drop the hammer on the stalkers. Well, the less scrupulous ones that is. Anyhow, enjoy.***

It was just after 6 pm in the town of Vale. Ruby and Jaune had reservations for two in a rather high class restaurant in about 30 minutes. With a few minutes to kill, they walked at a leisurely pace to their destination. The day had started off rather awkwardly for the two, what with Yang and the rest all but forcing them on this date. That's not to say that they weren't enjoying it. They were. Indeed, Ruby had never seen Jaune so distinguished before. And Jaune? Well, he almost couldn't take his eyes off of Ruby.

Distracted by one another, and minds occupied with the night ahead of them, Ruby and Jaune failed to notice they were being followed. Well, Jaune had a really bad sense of perception, so it's more like only Ruby failed to notice. Off quite a distance behind the two was a group of teens. Apparently being led by a rather busty blonde, the group was silently following the goofy couple. Watching them.

"Yang," whispered her partner, Ren. "I don't think we should be doing this. It isn't right to spy on your sister during her first date."

Ren, being the only consistent voice of reason on team RAYR, had made a good point. But Yang simply waved it off, like she always does.

"Right or not, Ruby is my baby sister, and I'll make sure nothing happens to her on her special day! That, and I want to see how this goes. Jaune doesn't seem very good with people, and Ruby's never had good social skills. This is probably going to be entertaining."

Ren rolled his eyes at this. He could not fathom how Yang could be so violently overprotective of Ruby, and still want to embarrass her and pick fun of her half as much as she does. He also felt bad for Jaune. They basically held him captive, forced him to learn every single relevant details about Ruby; likes, dislikes, hobbies, good conversation starters, etc., and played around with him like a Barbie doll.

Finally, having arrived to their destination, Ruby and Jaune went in. After getting their reservation confirmed, they were led to a small table lit by candlelight. After being seated, the two were asked if they'd like anything to drink. Each of them ordered some Cola. Before going to grab the drinks, the waiter handed them each a menu. Ruby opened the menu, only to be surprised at the things they served! Curious, she let herself wander to the deserts section of the menu, and nearly fainted. There were two whole pages of deserts, and one of the pages was dedicated to chocolate! Ruby almost felt herself drooling at all of the sweets. If she were with anyone but Jaune, it's likely she would have.

The waiter swiftly returned with their drinks, and asked if they were ready to order. Both of them asked for another to decide. Perusing the menu another couple of times, they'd finally settled on something when the waiter returned. Taking their orders, he left the two alone. The two sat is a slightly awkward silence for a while, unsure of how to start a conversation. All of his work on the subject since the morning abandoned him now that he was actually here.

Meanwhile, outside the restaurant looking in, the others were carefully observing the two.

"Wow, really? They haven't said anything to each other for like, five minutes now!"

"You brute! Not everyone has to be chatting constantly."

"But we literally spent an hour on teaching him how to start a conversation! How could he mess it up now?" By now, Yang was starting to wonder if this had been a good idea. How could she trust Ruby to a guy who couldn't even talk to her properly?

"Yang, calm down." Ren, the voice of reason, interjected. "Jaune is probably intimidated. I mean, have you seen your sister recently? She looks positively stunning."

While the group got on the subject of Ruby and how she looked, the two in the restaurant finally managed to start a conversation.

"So, uhh. Jaune, did they kind of force this on you too?"

"Yes. Wait, no. Well, I guess you can kind of say that." Jaune struggled to word this right. "I initially wanted to ask you on a date, but I was kind of intimidated. And then Yang asked me if I'd taken you on a proper date yet, and then set all of this up when I said I hadn't."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Yang's always been like that since we were younger. She's too forceful, and not very careful of other's personal space."

"Oh no Ruby, don't apologize. I'm glad I'm here, with you. It's actually rather fun." Jaune smiled and gave a small, goofy laugh. Blushing, Ruby looked down at her utensils. That had made her happy. She couldn't help but feel warm and giddy at what Jaune had just said. It was the first time a guy had ever told her that.

Outside, Yang and the others were watching the two intently now.

"Yes, and the love comedy finally begins!"

"Ooh ooh, I wonder what they were talking about?"

"They mentioned something about Yang." At this, everyone turned towards Blake. "I learned how to read lips when I was younger. I'm rather out of practice, but I can still make out a few words here and there." And everyone was still staring at her. Blake was a mystery. She ever took her bow off, was generally very quiet, and could apparently read lips. Seriously, who is this girl?!

"Heh, they were probably talking about how much of an awesome big sister I am!" And of course, Yang leapt to the only conclusion that her ego would allow her to. One would have to admit that Yang was quite a looker, but despite that her personality left a lot to be desired. Ruby could not count with three or even four hands how many times Yang had caused her to suffer. Ruby loved Yang to death, but thought that Yang kinda failed in the sister department, not that she'd ever let the blonde know.

"Brute."

"So, this might be like, totally random and all, but how do you think their wedding will go? I mean, I can see them staying together for a long time, so I definitely see them getting married. I wonder how it'll be? A large ceremony, shotgun wedding, close friends and family only? Oooh ooh ooh, I wanna be there, I wanna be there! And we can throw hundreds- no, thousands of roses onto them at the altar! We'll bury them in roses! And then, when we go to di-mphhphffphpfph"

"Nora, just shut up." Ren to the rescue. Hoping to stop her ranting, Ren had clamped a hand over Nora's mouth. After she nodded her assent to stop speaking, Ren let her go.

"Ren, did you know that your hands smell like pancakes?"

Back with Jaune and Ruby, their food had finally arrived. Eating their food, the two began a small conversation about weapons. Amidst talking about the weapons of their team and their friends in NNWB, they got onto the subject of Crescent Rose. After explaining to Jaune all of the complicated mechanical parts that went into making Crescent Rose what she was, Ruby went into how she also designed her own rounds for the weapon. This was the first time in quite a long time Jaune had seen Ruby so animated about anything.

After finishing their meal, Ruby had decided to order desert and Jaune had agreed. Flagging down their waiter, the two of them each ordered a slice of chocolate cake. While she was waiting, Ruby was randomly playing around with the ice in her cup. Accidently losing her grip on the cup, the ice spilled everywhere around her. She was about to pick it up when the waiter had returned, carrying a tray with the cake on it. Stepping on a few pieces of ice though, he lost his balance. The cake slipped off of the tray, and the waiter lurched forward, losing his hold on the tray. Flying out of his hands in an almost comical manner, the tray flew straight at Ruby and hit her square in the head.

_The cake is a lie, the cake is a lie, the cake is a lie._ She could not bear the fact that the cake had been dropped. Meanwhile, Beowolves and cartoon slices of cake circled her head in lieu of the usual stars that should be there. The waiter went to Ruby, and asked if she was fine, all the while apologizing. After confirming that she was fine, Ruby simply asked if she could get another piece of cake. The waiter went and got the cake, and promised Ruby and Jaune that it was on the house for the night, as an apology for the mishap. Meanwhile outside, the five students were desperately struggling to prevent Yang from tearing down the restaurants front door and beating the waiter to death.

After desert was done, the two left the restaurant. The date should be over at this time, but Jaune felt that leaving it here wasn't right. Thinking on what he could do, he remembered the nearby theater was usually open until midnight. With plenty of time until midnight, Jaune decided to go for it.

"Hey Ruby, wanna catch a movie? We have plenty of time."

"That sounds fun." Arriving at the theater, they took note of the movies playing. Jaune wanted to watch a movie about a lion cub who gets his father killed and grows up around a pig and a meerkat. Ruby wanted to watch a movie about highly advanced vampires and werewolves fighting with guns and stuff. Eventually, Jaune gave in and they decided to watch the vampire and werewolf one. After grabbing their tickets, some popcorn, and a couple of sodas, the two went into the theater and grabbed their seats.

At this time, the group was wondering what was happening. Did he add another part of the date they hadn't planned on? Oh well, they still followed the two to the theater. Grabbing their tickets to the same movie, they had gone to grab some snacks and stuff. At the snack bar, Yang was ordering popcorn, candy, soda, nachos. Well, she was basically ordering the menu. After the six had grabbed their food, Yang and Weiss had gone to butter their popcorn, when the butter dispenser went nuts and sprayed the butter-substitute all over Weiss and Yang.

While the two were cleaning themselves off, Ruby and Jaune were in the theater, waiting for the commercials to end and the movie to begin. Blissfully unaware of the fools the other six were making out of themselves.

About an hour later, after Weiss and Yang cleaned themselves off and the movie had begun, the six were seated about five rows behind the couple. Ruby and Jaune hadn't noticed them yet, but they didn't want to press their luck. Also, Yang wanted to still be able to see if Jaune tried anything funny. The movie was about half an hour away from the finish, and the two still hand't done much. Yang was beginning to suspect Jaune might be a closet gay for not trying anything on her sister.

It was at this point that the two managed to invoke one of the biggest cliches ever. Feeling a little peckish, the two reached for the popcorn at the same time, and grabbed each others hands instead. Quickly pulling their hands back, the two meekly looked at each other. Meanwhile, above them, Yang was trying hard not to laugh at how awkward it was.

When the movie had ended, the group let Jaune and Ruby leave first before attempting to follow. While trying to get up, Yang slid on some soda that was spilled all over the ground below her and fell over the chair in front of her, face first. As she was falling, her legs kicked up and knocked Pyrrha and Blake square across the face. With the three of them in such a mess, Ren, Nora, and Weiss silently left while they got sorted out.

After leaving the theater, unaware of the events of their stalkers, Jaune and Ruby began to walk back to the dorm when it started to drizzle. They ran to the only nearby cover, which happened to be a buss stop. Ruby's dress had gotten a little wet, and was starting to cling to her in a rather dangerous manner. Quickly realizing the situation, Jaune removed his coat and put it around her.

Meanwhile, the other six had been caught right in the rain and could only find cover underneath the awning above a small flower shop. Oh well, at least they had a good view of the clear-glass and brightly-lit bus stop where the other two were at. And since there were no lights around them, they doubted Ruby or Jaune could see them. The perfect spot. Or rather, it would have been, had the awning above them not been old and weak. After collecting a sufficient amount of rainwater, the awning and torn, and dumped the entire load of water on top of the group. And they started to complain; Yang about her hair, Weiss about her dress, etc., all while running around looking for more cover.

A few minutes later, after the rain had subsided, the two went back to the dorms. When they arrived, they were surprised to find Yang, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake all gone. Unsure of where they would have gone, the two simply put it into the back of their minds, sat down together on the couch, and began to watch T.V. The date was fun. Very fun. They had enjoyed themselves and the company of one another quite a bit. Ruby made a mental note to thank Yang when she got back, from wherever she was.

***Afterword**Well, there's the date. Sorry, there was no kiss here. I plan to have their first actual kiss later. It's a little idea I have for a two or three parter. I plan for it to be big. BIG. And I hope you will all enjoy what I have planned as much as I do. Anyhow, I'm glad that you still seem to like the story. I was hesitant about writing this fanfic at first, not sure about how it would be received. I only did it after a friend convinced me that opinions be damned, I should write what I want to write. And now I'm glad I did. I also enjoy advancing the story here. Some might thank that as the author, I simply write this, but that isn't entirely true. I read it, and I critique it myself. I love watching as my own story grows, and the characters as well. Well, enough with the ranting. I hope to see you all for the next chapter. Ciao.***


	17. Her Thorns 1

** *Author's Note**Hey guys. Yeah, the last chapter wasn't very first date-ish. I did it like that because I find both Ruby and Jaune to be socially awkward, and I wanted to try and incorporate that. I may not have done the best job. But I'm trying. Anyhow, this chapter comes from the idea of Shadic1978, and some inspiration from Demeter Fenir's story, Sisterly Antics: Ruby (one of the best fics on this site, in my opinion). Anyhow, I won't go into any spoilers. But I do hope you guys enjoy what I do here, because I did enjoy writing it. Anyhow, I'll see you at the afterword.***

So it was a few days after Ruby and Jaune's first date. They had enjoyed themselves quite a bit; the dinner and the movie were quite fun. But Ruby felt that it wasn't exactly complete. She felt that something had been missing from her evening with Jaune, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Oh well.

She'd gotten home later than Yang had expected due to the rain forcing her and Jaune to take shelter after the movie. Well, the movie itself was also a unexpected addition to her night with Jaune, but not one that she was entirely opposed to. But Yang and Ren were not around when she'd gotten home. They'd arrived about half an hour later, soaking wet. She said something about them training in the forest when the rain started and they took shelter in a save or something. Since it was Yang and her hair, Ruby didn't doubt that her sister would go to such lengths to protect it. But since Yang had gotten late, Ruby and Jaune had decided not to tell her or the others about their little addition to the date.

Still lost in her thoughts, Ruby wasn't paying much attention to the conversation at the table. Her team, and team NNWB, were eating together. As usual. This was a rather common sight at the cafeteria. And as usual, Nora was dominating the conversation with some rather odd dreams, and some very crazy stories of Ren and her's past.

"...and then- wait, Ruby, are you there? Hellooo~! Come on, why are you zoning out? Still thinking about your date with Jaune? Ohhh, it was probably so romantic! I mean the dinner, the movie! It must have been so nice." At this, Ruby's ears all but twitched. Noticing Ruby perk up at this, Yang and the others all but turned towards her with a near murderous look in their eyes.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said that your dinner and the m-mphfhphpfmpmhfp"

"Nora. Just shut up. I'm getting a migraine." Yang had clamped her hand over Nora's mouth (sparing Ren from having to do it for once), trying to stop her from saying anything more. At this, Yang was hoping that Ruby was so far out of it before that she hadn't completely heard what Nora'd said.

"No wait, what did Nora just say?" Ruby _knows_ what she had just heard. And she heard Nora mention the movie. The movie that _neither she nor Jaune_ had told them about. Or she's pretty sure neither of them had mentioned it.

"Oh, it was nothing sis. Hey, Nora, let's go do some sparring, _okay?_ Come on, _it'll be fun._" Yang was all but spitting the words through her teeth. Without even waiting for a nod or some form of confirmation, Yang dragged Nora out of the cafeteria. The other four decided to follow them, talking about getting some extra training in. After excusing themselves, Ruby and Jaune were left alone. Forgetting about her food, Ruby grabbed Jaune by his jacket's hood and pulled him out of the cafeteria. Taking him a ways down the hallway, opposite where Yang, Nora, and the rest exited, she took Jaune to their dorm. Forcing the door open, she practically threw Jaune into the room.

"Jaune, did you mention to any of them that we'd gone to see the movie after dinner?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I think Nora knows about the movie." Jaune looked confused, as if wondering why this was important. "Neither of us told her." Jaune started to look a little like he was comprehending what Ruby was saying. "And after Nora mentioned the movie, the others got a little stiff. They all looked towards Nora when she said it, and none of them looked surprised. _They looked scared._" Now Jaune was starting to get it.

"Wait, so they know about the part of our date that neither of us mentioned? What does that mean?"

"It means my _precious big sister_ and our friends couldn't help but want to get a cheap laugh off of our first date." This really hurt Ruby. She always thought that Yang had more trust in her. She felt betrayed. And Ruby would know quite a bit about betrayal. And she also knew how to deal with those types. "Jaune, please get out of the dorm for a few hours. I've got work to do." Jaune didn't even think of arguing. The look in Ruby's eyes was the very same look she gave to Nora the time she had taken some of Ruby's cookies. The very same look Ruby gave to her before they were set to spar in class. The very same look Ruby gave her right before she had broken Nora's left leg with a well placed shot below the knee. Though even with a broken leg, she did not stop smiling, laughing, or giggling. She sat in the infirmary, still happy as sunshine to see Ruby. But that's a story for another time.

For the next several hours, all that could be heard coming from her room was tinkering noises. Ruby had pulled out her old weapon maintenance kit, grabbed her phials of explosive dust, and all of her spare parts, and had gotten to work building some... contraptions. What they were for, nobody could tell. Well, maybe some of the more psychotically creative types would. Ruby was always a prodigy in mechanics and weapon design. And she loved weapons. She would spend hours geeking over weapons with Yang, who would rather talk about boys. It was a habit she'd gotten from her father, and a habit she had lost herself in over the years. But one thing she learned during all of this was how to make bombs.

After having completed several small device with a look that would make the devil cringe, Ruby looked satisfied. Grabbing them all, she stuffed them into the little pouch she had kept on her waist. It normally held her specially modded rounds, marked with a cross shape consisting of a circle and four arrows pointing toward the circle. She had made these herself after an encounter with some rather dumb, but durable, Boarbatusks on a hiking expedition several years back. But she had no need of them here in Beacon, for now. Storing the extra magazine in her desk, she began to prepare for sleep. It was late, and there was always tomorrow. The weekend. The perfect chance to take revenge. Settling into a deep sleep, Ruby began to dream.

_Vale. The city lights were bright as always. She was walking down the street. Dressed in an unusual manner. Not her usual combat skirt. No. It was a dress. Instead of her normal black and red combat skirt, she was wearing a black spaghetti-strap with red frills. And she was with Jaune. They were simply walking. Holding hands. And walking._

_ They had passed by an alleyway. Giggling. A lot of giggling. Turning to search, there was nothing. Passing it off, they continued. More giggling. More. And more. And more. Searching frantically, nothing was found. Nobody was found. The giggling got louder. And louder. And louder. And then, Jaune was gone. Where was he? He was just here. Right. Here. _

_ And there they were. Six large forms. Shadows. Black. Pitch black. They all towered over her. Each with pure white eyes. Empty. But the mouths were all hideous grins. Grinning. Laughing. All at her. At her expense. _

_ Just laughing..._

Ruby awoke with a start. _What a nightmare. Figures that Yang would follow me even into my dreams. Well, today's the day for payback._ And it was. Ruby had everything ready. The explosives she had made the night before were all in her pouch. None were lethal. But each would teach a lesson. And they weren't all that Ruby had prepared. Oh no. She had_ big plans_ for these guys. Nobody messes with her.

It was incredibly early, even for Ruby to be up, but she had no time to waste. She set out to prepare all of the various torments she had in mind. There are things that neither Yang, nor her family, never knew about her. One of these is that Ruby was a lot more perceptive than people gave her credit for. But this is something her father taught her. Everyone has something to hide. But they're less likely to hide from someone who seems unassuming and naive. Ruby was anything but. But she was a master at playing the part. Yang had assumed Ruby was unaware of their meddling and following. She was wrong, and would learn it soon enough.

It took Ruby no time at all to set everything up. After all, she was a prodigy with these kinds of things. Or so she had been told. She just called it a hobby. A hobby involving weapons, explosives, and pyrotechnics. Okay, so maybe not the most feminine hobby ever, but it kept her busy. And kept her happy. And allowed her to get even.

Ruby had everything set up by 9 am. Her teammates would be waking soon. And so would her friends. This was perfect. Everything was ready. Soon, she would make Yang and the others pay for underestimating her. She made sure to familiarize herself with most of their weekend schedules. They were relatively straight forward, without much deviation from the norm. She knew where they would be, knew when they would be there, and knew how best get them.

Staking out the door to her team's and NNWB's dorms, she heard what sounded like solid footfalls. Not heavy, not necessarily light. Made with a hard-sole shoe. Most likely Pyrrha. Little did Pyrrha know, her steps were counting down to the beginning of Ruby Rose's revenge.

***Afterword**Yup, another two parter. So yeah. If anyone has read Sisterly Antics: Ruby, they'd get it. In that series, there are two stories involving Ruby and bombs. And both were utterly funny. Anyhow, I took a page from Demeter's book (pun not intended), and gave my Ruby some knowledge about pyrotechnics. I decided that I didn't like the idea of Yang, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha getting away with only being soaked. And tripped up. So, I decided to cause them some more hell. Well, Ruby actually did. Well, you know what I mean. I might take leniency on one or two of them, out of personal preference. But the next chapter will essentially be divided into six parts; one for each and every one of them to suffer. I'll try to detail as much of it as possible. Let me know if you want anyone in particular to suffer more. I'll take that into consideration. Well, before my sadistic side starts to feel like George R. R. Martin and I get the urge to off someone, I'll end my Afterword here. See you next chapter.***


	18. Her Thorns 2

** *Author's Note**Yo, time for revenge. A few of you seemed somewhat confused, so allow me to clarify something. At the end of the last chapter, it was not Pyrrha plotting revenge, but Ruby plotting it. Pyrrha is the one Ruby assumed was leaving the dorm, and is her first intended target of revenge. Sorry if any of you were confused. Pyrrha will not be getting her time to shine yet.***

*Pyrrha*

Today seemed like any other for Pyrrha. She woke up before the rest of her team, got ready, and decided to get some training done. She often went for training early, occasionally running into Ruby. At these times, Pyrrha would try to spar with Ruby, or in some way mess up her training and attempt to injure her. But somehow, someway, Ruby always got out of it unscathed. During their spars, Ruby would dodge everything with a grace and fluidity that made Pyrrha wonder why this small girl chose hunting instead of dancing. And when she tried to sabotage the targets to retaliate at Ruby with a rather crudely made outwardly exploding plate, she just dodged those too. It's like the girl was hand crafted by some god or another, and had an "Untouchable" sign stapled to her forehead.

Contemplating her chances of success this morning should she run into Ruby, Pyrrha continued to the training grounds. When she got there, she noticed it was quiet. No Ruby. But upon further inspection, she also saw that it had not been used yet. Now that was odd. Ruby was always here before Pyrrha, and usually left some sign or another of her training; boot prints, bullet holes, clouds of rose petals. Something. Feeling this was a little unnatural, Pyrrha cautiously entered the training grounds.

"Ruby?" Her only answer was silence. Thinking that maybe Ruby had decided to sleep in for once, Pyrrha shook off her bad feelings, and decided to start training. Today was Saturday, which always meant target practice. And she always used the same target for practice; the one three down from the far left. Without realizing it, Pyrrha was walking into Ruby's trap. The moment Pyrrha's foot touched down before the target, she felt a prick go through her sole. Looking down, she noticed a small tack was stuck in the ground. Bending over to try and pick it up, Pyrrha all of the sudden became dizzy. Losing her balance and consciousness at the same time, Pyrrha fell face forward onto the ground, completely unaware of the small, red clad girl who had been watching her from above the entire time.

Waking up a few minutes later, Pyrrha found herself face first in the dirt, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Chalking it to her imagination, she got up and was about to get in some firing practice when she'd heard a noise behind her. Looking back, she saw the object of her affections, Jaune. But what was he doing here? Jaune slowly walked towards Pyrrha, closing the gap with confident strides. When he was but a foot from her, he gently cupped her face in his hands, and began to lean forward.

Then, he was gone. And before her eyes, Pyrrha saw him again. Only this time, it wasn't just Jaune. Ruby was also with him. And they were holding hands? What?! Wait, is he going to kiss her? No no no no no! To her horror, Pyrrha saw Jaune slowly lean in for a kiss on Ruby's soft lips, unable to move. Desperate as she was, Pyrrha could not take a step, or pull her precious javelin out and stop this madness. And she watched, as their lips met in a passionate embrace, unable to close her eyes, unable to look away, unable to stop this madness. And it hurt. It hurt her something fierce.

And all this while, Ruby watched as Pyrrha writhed on the ground, agonizing over something or another. Ruby had put a special hallucinogenic toxin combined with a sedative on the tack she had placed where Pyrrha usually does her marksmanship training. The toxin was a special one, derived from a Deathstalkers stinger. In normal doses, it would paralyze a person. In minor amounts, it would cause the infected to deal with hallucinations of their worst fears. Combined with the sleeping drug, it would give one Nightmares they would be unable to wake up from for a few hours at the least. Satisfied that her plan had worked, ruby left the Amazon to her suffering. On her return to the dorm, Ruby noticed someone leaving. A certain bubbly, orange haired Valkyrie.

*Nora*

It was yet another good day to Nora. She woke up, hand pancakes with plenty of syrup, and was ready to go and have some fun. Normally on the weekends, she would go to the Emerald Forest and wander around, looking for Ursa to fight. She had this odd dream of wanting to fight off a large pack of them, skin them, and make lien off of selling Ursa-skin rugs.

Going to her locker, where she kept her hybrid grenade launcher/war hammer, Magnhilde, Nora input her lockers pass-code. Upon opening the locker, Nora pulled out her weapon, stored it on her back, and left for her fun. Upon getting to the cliff where the students were originally launched back during the initiation, she unfolded Magnhilde. You see, her original landing strategy was that she used the recoil from Magnhilde to slow her descent until reaching the ground, using the pressure from one last blast from the dust loaded grenades to cushion her fall. After Jumping off this time, she found that Magnhilde wasn't firing right. Scratch that, it wasn't firing at all. For the first time in a long time, Nora had found herself without her trademark Cheshire grin, scared. She managed to avoid the worst of it by hitting a few branches and trees on her way down, but the impact still jarred her and left her dazed on the ground.

Looking down on Nora from the cliff above, Ruby found that her sabotage of Nora's weapon had gone smoothly. After all, for someone like her who could build and maintain weapons with the expertise of a master, something as simple as jamming the firing mechanism was child's play. Leaving behind the downed Valkyrie, Ruby went to find her next victim.

*Ren*

Ren's morning started like any other. Woke up, Ruby was gone, Yang was snoring, and Jaune was cuddled in his bead. Just another morning for him, huh? Well, his mornings were nice and peaceful, and he liked them this way. Nothing could ruin them except for maybe Nora. But not bunking with her gave him plenty of space from his suffocating childhood friend.

Getting up, Ren prepared himself for a shower, like he always does. He grabbed his towel, change of clothes, and his special shampoo. Ren entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him,a habit he had gotten into ever since Yang nearly killed Jaune for entering when Ruby had finished her shower and was only in a bath towel (a memory that Jaune struggles to keep, despite the trauma of Yang's merciless beatdown of him threatening to suppress it.)

Stepping in for his shower, Ren did as he always did. Arms, legs, torso, and then hair. After pouring his shampoo on his head though, he noticed a nauseating smell in the air. Sniffing around for the source, he noticed that it was coming from his shampoo bottle. Someone had exchanged his usual lilac scented shampoo for some kind of foul concoction that smelled of wet Ursa. Grabbing someone else's shampoo (he didnt know who's, but it kinda smelled like roses), he tried to wash the stuff out of his hair. But even after one or two washes, the smell wasn't leaving. Just what the hell was this stuff?!

Ruby, despite being angry, did still have manners. She couldn't see for herself how her surprise was working, but from Ren's grunts and complaints, she could tell that her plan had worked. When Ruby was younger, she had learned from her father how to make a kind of chemical that was absolutely repulsive smelling. And with it, she had made her fair share of stink bombs during her youth. Oh well, th smell would go away after about half an hour. Lucky he got away so easily. She figured he didn't deserve to suffer too bad. He always seemed so nice, so Ruby had assumed he likely didn't want to go with the stalking plan originally.

*Weiss and Blake*

Back in their dorm, Weiss and Blake were still fast asleep. Pyrrha had had the entire group training until late the previous night. With such little sleep, most people wouldn't be able to function. The only reason Pyrrha had been up was because she was used to getting little sleep and could function for a while without sleep. And Nora was just hyper, so she had not gone to bed at all that night.

Now if Blake and Weiss had been awake, they would have noticed a red-hooded figure silently make it's way into their room. But alas, they could not. While sleeping, most Hunters could tell, by detecting Aura, if there was someone nearby. But Ruby was an expert at hiding her Aura, so she walked through the dorm, completely undetected by the two sleeping girls. Slipping out two small phials from her pouch, Ruby first opened the one with a clear solution. This solution happened to be cat pheromones. The other bottle, which contained a purple liquid, was catnip, mixed with a very powerful aphrodisiac that was meant for cats.Yeah, most people didn't seem to notice, but Blake's bow was rather odd. Why else would she wear it constantly? It seemed very likely that Blake was a faunus, and the most likely type was cat-faunus. She covered the heiress with the colorless and oderless pheromone. For Blake, she had slipped a spoonful of the purple mixture into her mouth.

Before leaving, Ruby left a small alarm bomb. A device of her own design, the alarm bomb was a little something that let off a loud wailing alarm that sent sound waves off of surfaces in random patterns and at different volumes and frequencies, making it hard to locate the source of the noise. Fortunately, it only lasted about 15 seconds, but it would be enough to wake them up. Stepping outside, Ruby had counted down the seconds until her little surprise woke the two up. After the alarm had woken them up, Ruby patiently waited for the main event. A little later, her patience was rewarded, by the sound of what appeared to be a scuffle. Blake was furiously trying to get at Weiss. Some bangs, crashes, and very... suggestive sounds were coming from the room.

Smiling at her success, Ruby moved on to her final target. The ringleader. The mastermind. Her older sister. Yang.

*Yang*

For Yang, Ruby had felt some guilt at first. She was her older sister, and that had to count for something, right? Too bad Ruby doesn't play fair.

When Yang woke up, her world was dark. She had no idea why. Clawing at her face, she managed to brush the darkness from her eyes. Wait, why was the darkness in strands? Reaching up to her hair, Yang pulled a fistful to her face. Her hair. Her precious gold-colored locks. They were pitch black.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?!" Looking around, Yang saw a mass of red by the front door. It was Ruby. And she was holding something in her right hand. A small bottle with some inky looking substance inside. "Ruby." At this point Yang was forcing a smile, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. She was hoping she wouldn't scare Ruby away, because if Ruby needed to be pounded, Yang wanted her within arm's reach. "What happened to my hair? Did you do this?"

Wordlessly, Ruby simply held the tiny phial up, and shook it slightly a couple of times. Seeing Yang begin to get up, Ruby started to move backwards. Yang, not wanting to let Ruby escaped, crept her hand towards the nightstand by her bed, where she kept her Ember Celica ready and waiting. But reaching in her drawer, she found her gauntlets were missing! Looking over to her baby sister, Ruby pulled her other hand out from behind her cape. In it were the 2 bracelets that expanded into Ember Celica.

At this, Ruby dashed from the room. Not five seconds later, she could hear the door to her room burst open, as Yang tore it from the hinges and chased Ruby. _That's right sis, keep coming. _As Ruby ran, Yang followed. Several times Yang had reached for her hood, and each time came back with just a fistful of Rose petals.

"Using your semblance to run away? That's unfair Ruby!"

Not paying her sister any mind, Ruby kept running. Playing with Yang. Toying with her. Eventually, Ruby spotted her target. Slowing down, Ruby let Yang catch up to her. Then, she suddenly stopped, and turned towards Yang. Still smiling, she let Yang approach her rapidly. Jaust a few feet away, Yang took a swing at Ruby, and hit a cloud of rose petals. And the bespectacled blonde behind it. Wait, did she just hit-?

"Miss Xiao Long," began a very angry Glynda Goodwitch. "My office. Now!" All Yang could do was meekly nod her head, and squea out some weak form of assent. Following Professor Goodwitch, Yang looked behind her to see Ruby smiling. Not her usual, innocent, and very heartwarming smile. No, this one was sinister. As she was contemplating the meaning behind that smile, Ruby seemed to mouth some words.

_"This is what you get."_ she seemed to be saying. As Ruby watched her big sis get taken to what was considered the most terrifying room in the entire school, she felt that all was right with the world. Yang would suffer for having underestimated her, and having spied on her date.

*Epilogue*

After their rough day, the members of team NNWB and RAYR sat down together to eat, sans the new couple. Over the course of their dinner, the members decided to talk about their days. How odd events seemed to have plagued them all. Pyrrha's hallucinations, Nora's accident, Ren's shampoo mishap, and Yang's hair problems. Blake and Weiss had some... _issues,_ but neither seemed to want to talk about it. Though they were making a lot of eye contact and there was some blushing involved.

"Wow," began Pyrrha. "What a day, huh? How could we all have had such bad luck though?"

"Guys, I think I may know what happened." And Yang told them about having chased Ruby, how Ruby had tricked her into hitting Goodwitch, the creepy smile Ruby gave after that, and the words she seemed to have been saying. "I think Ruby may have found out that we followed her on their date."

"Wait! So you're telling me that little runt found out about the spying, and she went _this far_ for revenge?! That is unbelievable!"

"No, Ruby's always been meticulous about revenge. Not to mention, our dad taught her a lot about different kinds of toxins, poisons, and chemistry. And due to her love of weapons, she picked up a lot on the subject of gyro techniques."

"Pyrotechnics."

"Whatever Blake. Anyhow, from what you all have said, it sounds like Ruby's doing. Pyrrha, Ruby knows plenty of different things to cause those kinds of visions and pains. Nora, Ruby could tear apart any weapon blindfolded, so yeah. Ren, again, Ruby is great with chemicals and stuff. Blake and Weiss... I have no idea what happened to you, but she likely did it. Anyhow, bottom line is Ruby got us good."

"Then I say we get her back."

"Don't bother. When she wants revenge, Ruby is unstoppable. And no matter how hard you try, you could never take revenge on her. She's too fast. And she's wily. We couldn't catch her, and we couldn't trick her. She found out about us spying on her, and she got even. Not much we can do about it."

"What about your hair?"

"Errgh! DAMNIT RUBY!"

***Afterword**Well, that was a thing, huh? Anyhow, my next arc will likely be the lat one for a while. I'm shipping out for the Navy in less than a week, and I'll be on hiatus for about 2-3 months, depending. So, I'll try to make my next arc end with a bang, as it'll likely be either a long hiatus, for the last chapter of Love is a Knight-mare. Sorry.***


	19. Thorny Trial 1

** *Author's Note**Hey guys. This chapter is going to be a little more on Pyrrha and her new partner in crime. This arc together will be about Pyrrha trying one of her schemes to mess with Ruby and try to break her and Jaune up, how it goes awry (sorta), and the fallout from it. I may also introduce one weird ass shipping that will leave some of you wanting my head on a pike. But, baby steps. And also, this will be the last arc before I go on hiatus. I'll be gone for a couple of months, no access to internet or anything. But once I am able to, I plan to pick the series right back up. Well, enough of this depressing stuff. Time to get to the main show. Here's chapter 19.***

It was a few weeks later, and everyone had thoroughly learned their lesson. After Ruby had put together two and two, and figured out that Ren, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, and Pyrrha had spied on her and Jaune during their date, she had decided to get even with them. And by even, I mean performing acts like causing physical, mental, or emotional pain. And unfortunately for them, she had the skill and means to do so. Nobody was spared, not even her big sister Yang. After that, they had been noticeably wary of her, but eventually all went back to normal.

Which brings us to the current situation. In her team's dorm, alone, Pyrrha was currently considering what she normally was; what was the best possible way to get Ruby out of the picture, or break her and Jaune up? Pyrrha had fallen for the awkward and nerd-like fellow almost immediately. Unlike most guys who spoke with her, he didn't care much for her fame (though he did know she was the Pumpkin Pete's mascot), was genuinely kind, and actually kept his eyes level with hers, and not her chest.

But Pyrrha may have fallen a bit too hard for him. She felt herself wanting him, to make him hers. She wanted him to want her. But no, he had wanted Ruby instead. And this made Pyrrha angry. Angry that Jaune would choose an unknown girl over her, a famous warrior. Why he would choose a younger girl over a more mature one. Why he would choose an undeveloped little girl, over her and her nice figure. She had everything on Ruby; fame, maturity, and sex appeal. And yet he _still chose_ Ruby over her. And Pyrrha could not stand it.

Pyrrha had absolutely nothing against Ruby herself though. Ruby was affable, adorable, and easy to get along with. She had an infectious attitude and smile that could make the people around her become her friends in a heartbeat. Or at least_ want_ to become her friend. If only she could get along with people a little better. But aside from that, she was also an excellent fighter, which was something Pyrrha could respect from the bottom of her heart. Yes, Pyrrha did respect and like Ruby, for all intents and purposes. She just simply hated the fact that Ruby and Jaune were a couple.

But to Pyrrha, there was a fine line between hating that Ruby was in a relationship with the guy that Pyrrha herself liked, and hating Ruby herself. A _very fine_ line. This has caused her to sometimes even try to outright cause Ruby harm, though usually to no avail. She was fast and willy, like that one guy who calls himself a minority on that Achieve Men show that was popular nowadays. Somehow, someway, she always seemed to get away unharmed, making it seem easy in the process. Anyway, getting a little restless, Pyrrha decided to head into the cafeteria and grab some lunch, despite her friends and teammates all being out for the day.

The cafeteria was mostly empty; just a few scattered students around. She took a seat at the table she and the rest normally sat at, and just began to eat her sandwich. Not really paying attention to any one thing in particular, she focused her hearing and began to pick at the different conversations going around the cafeteria.

"-about Port's lecture on..."

"So did you hear about the..."

"-do about that couple from team RAYR?" At this, Pyrrha's ears perked up. Looking towards the source of the conversation, Pyrrha saw Cardin Winchester talking with his buddies. Straining her ears, Pyrrha tried to listen in on their conversation more.

"Yeah, those two are seriously annoying. I mean, have you seen them? Practically flaunting their relationship in front of people."

"Yeah. It makes me so mad that that nerd could get a girl before we did."

"Makes this like some sort of bad anime or something."

"Well, what do you say to us trying to break the stupid couple up?"

"But Cardin, didn't Jaune warn us to not go near his team again? Especially Ruby!"

"Tch, you think that pathetic loser could do anything about it? It's not like we'd be caught doing anything, and of push came to shove we could so kick his butt."

Despite not liking the part about threatening Jaune, Pyrrha found herself growing more and more interested in their conversation_. So, team CRDL's out to break Ruby and Jaune up too? Maybe..._ Getting up, Pyrrha began to walk towards their table, idea in mind. Standing behind Cardin, Pyrrha cleared her throat and began.

"So, you guys are out to break up my friends?"

Startled, the four guys at the table turned and looked to the recently arrived Pyrrha. Looking at her, Cardin couldn't help but wonder something.

"If we are, then what is it to you? You didn't sound so upset."

"Who said I was? I may be interested in hearing the details of this little plan of yours. You _do_ have a plan, right?" Pyrrha said this to a table full of rather puzzled guys. They weren't sure if they had just heard what she'd said. It almost sounded like she was offering to help them.

"And what would you do with the details of our plan?"

"What do you think I would do?"

To the casual onlooker, the scene would be odd. Five students gathered at a table, all with faces that would cause chills to go up and down one's spine. Whispering to each other, plotting something. And none of it sounded good. For the next hour or so, the group continued to whisper amongst themselves, arguing and debating the pros and cons to various ideas and plans.

As it were, while these five were making up their scheme to interfere with Ruby and Jaune, the couple just happened to be eating lunch in the courtyard. Ruby had prepared a lunchbox for the two, consisting of sandwiches, stew, and strawberry cookies. The two were eating peacefully, blissfully unaware of the storm brewing on the horizon.

"So, Ruby. How exactly do you make these cookies?" Jaune had been wondering this for a while. Ruby's sweets were amazing, but her strawberry cookies were on an entirely different level.

"That is a secret, Jaune."

Joking around, laughing, and just having a good time in general, the two continued their little picnic. From the cafeteria window a story above, neither of them saw a red haired girl and her four cohorts looking down on look down on them, malevolence in their gaze.

** *Afterword**This one was shorter than the last few because I plan to release this arc as a three parter. As you can tell, Pyrrha has teamed up with the jerk-offs from CRDL to try and mess with Ruby and Jaune. This is going to work for and against her. How? I don't wanna spoil anything just yet. Also, I'm going to make a lot of Pyrrha fanboys cry with what I have planned (and no, it doesn't involve direct harm to Pyrrha, nor does it involve me killing, maiming, leaving her mentally scarred, etc.), maybe. Anyhow, again this will likely be my last arc for a while, so I hope to have it completed, and I do hope you all enjoy it. Once my hiatus is finished, I'll come back with more Love is a Knight-mare. Count on it.***


	20. Thorny Trial 2

** *Author's Note**Welcome to chapter 21. Yeah, the last one was too Pyrrha centric, but you'll see a little more of her for now. A couple of you had an interesting thought; PyrrhaXCardin? Now, what would give you the insane notion that I would do that...? :) Well, the dark swirling mass of psychotic ideas in my head aside, let's get this show on the road***

For the past week now, Pyrrha had been ditching her team quite often. She was hard to track, and nobody could really tell where she was going. After class, on the weekend, and even sometimes at night. She was nowhere to be found. With this happening on a consistent basis, Weiss, Blake, and Nora were starting to feel concerned for Pyrrha.

As it so happened, Pyrrha was out again this night. Where she was? Well, only five people could really tell you. One of the five was Pyrrha herself. The other four were the members of the rather infamous Team CRDL, a team of known bullies. Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, Dove Bronzewing, and Cardin Winchester. For the past week, Pyrrha had been secreting off to meet with them team when possible to discuss their plans to messing with Ruby and possibly breaking her and Jaune up. Each of the five had their own reasons for disliking it. Russel, Sky, and Dove just hated the two being a couple, feeling insecure about Jaune having gotten a girl before they did. Cardin had more of a grudge against Jaune, and couldn't stand to see him happy. And Pyrrha was in love with Jaune and couldn't stand to see him with another girl.

Out of them all, Cardin and Pyrrha had the most intense dislike of the couple, which led to the two often gathering to plot against them, even when the other three aren't available. Over the past week, Pyrrha and Cardin had spent more time together than Ruby and Yang. The entire time, they only discussed various ways to try and trick Ruby, embarrass her, take her out of the game for a while, or get Jaune to look away from her. After a week and a half of planning, plotting, and scheming, they were ready to begin.

Their plan was rather simple, and complicated at the same time. The first phase was to sabotage Ruby's Crescent Rose. With slight knowledge in craftsmanship, Pyrrha was able to create a magazine of special, unstable bullets. While the four guys from CRDL distracted Ruby in the morning, before she could grab her weapon from her locker, Pyrrha would switch out the clips without letting Ruby find out. After this, the plan gets complicated. The goal was to get Ruby in a spar and have her injure herself, taking her out of the game. Almost immediately afterwards, they would pit Jaune against a stronger opponent, like Cardin or Pyrrha. During Jaune's fight, they would try to incapacitate him. Following this, they would make sure the two were put into separate rooms. With them unable to see each other, Pyrrha would swoop in and begin to take care of Jaune. After long enough, Jaune would fall for her and leave Ruby. Simple. Or so they thought.

That day began like any other. Except that as team RAYR was grabbing their gear from the lockers, team CRDL came by and started to harass them. While the team was busy dealing with the four least popular students on campus, Pyrrha quietly snuck behind the rest. Using her high-level control over aura, she masked herself as well as one could. Then using her semblance, pulled on the magnetic metals in Crescent Rose to move it from the locker. Successfully acquiring the weapon, Pyrrha switched out the rounds in the magazine with her homemade ones. After switching them out, she used her semblance again to move the weapon back to it's original place. Confirming the job was done, team CRDL got out and left the rest of the young hunters to their devices.

Fast forward to Goodwitch's class. The students were pairing up for duels today to earn a grade and raise their standing in the class. As usual, nobody wanted anything to do with Ruby. Whether it was her somewhat beast-like fighting style, her insane speed capable of allowing her to leave even the greatest of faunus' vision, or her weapon which was the bastard child of two of the most powerful and sinister weapons ever crafted, an anti-matter sniper rifle and a massive Grim-reaping scythe. Whatever it was, people avoided fighting her as best as they could. And the poor person who got stuck with her was almost always placed in the infirmary. But this time, someone decided to fight her.

"I'll volunteer to face Ruby." Pyrrha decided to pair up with Ruby, earning gasps of shock and awe from her peers. Despite her fame and skill, most of the students in Beacon placed Ruby on a similar level to Pyrrha. Every student in the room had been waiting for this; the fight between the famous Champion from Sanctum, and the wild-child known for her ungodly fighting skill. This fight would be good. Very good. Getting themselves into place, Ruby and Pyrrha set themselves up, getting into their respective stances. On Professor Goodwitch's mark, they began. Or, they would have, had Ruby's weapon not misfired. Bringing her weapon in front of her, Ruby noticed the problem only too late. The rounds in her magazine and the one in her weapon's barrel exploded, knocking her back out of the ring causing Crescent Rose to impale her in the thigh.

"RUBY!" Yang all but mowed down the crowd before her to reach her little sister, pushing and knocking any student unlucky enough to be in her way out with enough force to leave quite a few bruises. Reaching her sister, the older blonde cradled Ruby as she writhed in pain. Pulling the blade from her sister's scythe out of her leg, Yang compacted Crescent Rose to it's gun form, hung it at her waist, and ran with Ruby in her arms to the infirmary at full speed. Even Professor Goodwitch did not try to stop Yang, despite her having left the class, run in the hallways, and injure several students in the process.

Meanwhile, everyone was stunned. Nobody could believe that Ruby Rose, the girl deemed a weapons and combat prodigy, the girl who got accepted into Beacon _two years_ early, the girl who despite her age was given her own team to lead, would have her weapon blow up in her face. Even Pyrrha and team CRDL didn't realize that their plan would be so effective, and even they were shocked at what had just transpired. But they passed it off, and tried to focus on the next part of their plan. Which consisted of getting the now almost-hysteric Jaune to spar with Cardin and become injured himself. If only he used a gun it would have been easier. After long enough, they managed to convince Professor Goodwitch to continue the lesson, getting another duel set up. And they managed to get it to be a match between Cardin and Jaune.

Looking to one another to confirm their plan, Cardin and Pyrrha exchanged a quick and knowing glance. Setting himself up, Cardin stood before an off-looking Jaune. Cardin readied his weapon, preparing to strike down Jaune on Goodwitch's mark. But Cardin didn't realize that Jaune was currently having a maelstrom of emotions swirl in his head. Ruby had just been hurt before him. And he had to deal with this lecture? This was all a pile of bull! The moment Goodwitch gave the mark, Cardin struck. Only, he missed. Completely. Where Jaune was a second ago, there was only empty space. Looking up, Cardin saw that Jaune had put some distance between them. Pulling Crocea Mors from his belt, Jaune readied his sword and his shield. Glaring at Cardin with a look of pure murder in his eyes, Jaune charged forward. Picking himself up, Cardin swung his mace from below, trying to catch Jaune off guard. After having trained with Ruby for so long, Jaune knew how to use his Aura to improve his senses, and gain a better understanding of what was happening around him. Feeling that the mace was coming, Jaune moved his right leg to block the shaft of Cardin's mace, preventing it from moving any further. With Cardin's weapon out of the deal, Jaune pulled his left arm back over his right side, and smashed into Cardin from below with his shield. His natural strength, improved by the weeks of training with Ruby and augmentation via his Aura, had allowe dhim to send the larger male flying out of the combat stage and into the crowd on onlooking students. Walking with haste over to his fallen foe, Jaune butted Cardin with the hilt of his blade, completely knocking him out and leaving him unable to continue.

For the second time in one day, no student in attendance could believe their own eyes. Jaune Arc, known as one of the weakest freshmen, had just decimated Cardin Winchester in just two moves. Not a month earlier was Cardin regularly beating Jaune in sparring matches. Despite this being the first time in several weeks that Goodwitch has had spars in the classroom, nobody could believe that Jaune could make such an improvement so quickly.

"The winner is Mister Arc." After confirming Jaune's victory, Goodwitch moved to ensure Cardin's safety. From the sidelines, Pyrrha began to grow mixed feelings. Not only was she utterly shocked at how much Jaune's fighting skills have improved, but she also felt something towards the now battered and beaten Winchester. A mix of pity and regret? Or some sort of worry? She felt horrible for what had happened to him at the hands of Jaune, but she also felt incredibly turned on by Jaune's seemingly sudden growth. With her feelings confusing the hell out of her, Pyrrha only barely noticed Jaune as he turned and began to walk towards the exit.

"Mister Arc, where do you think you are going?" Pyrrha wasn't the only one who seemed to notice Jaune leaving, as Goodwitch had called out to him seeing his attempt at egress.

"Professor Goodwitch," began Jaune in a tone more serious than Pyrrha or his other friends had ever heard from him before. "I am going to check up on my leader. I can not be here with a clear conscience and remain un worried so long as I don't know her condition. With that being said, may I be excused from class?"

Looking back to Miss Goodwitch, Jaune waited for permission or rejection. After a few second, she nodded her assent and allowed Jaune to leave. The entire time, all Pyrrha could do was watch as Jaune left to be at _her_ side again. Watch as her plan fell through, unable to stop him or keep him to herself. After Jaune had left, Pyrrha's mind was in a slight fog. All she could do was move over to the now recovering Cardin, and show what concern for him she could. She could not gather her own thoughts at the moment. All she could do was sit down with her injured cohort, and try to make some sense of what had gone wrong and what had she not done right.

***Afterword**Writing about Ruby getting injured was almost physically painful, but somehow I soldiered through it. Anyhow, so yeah. Some of you can probably predict how the next chapter will work, more or less. But I plan to make it work, end it with a bit of a bang. I do hope that it doesn't turn out too predictable. Also, I'm going to throw you a bone here. The next chapter will contain ***** ***** ****. Yup, that's right. **** *** ***** **** ******* ****. ** *** ****.***

** *Yeah, right. Did you actually expect me to post a spoiler? :) Well, take a guess or two. You'll likely be able to see what's coming next. As a little challenge, I wonder how many of you can actually guess what those *'s mean. Ahh, whatever. The next chapter won't be too far behind. I'll see you guys then. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter and leave a comment or two if you have any complaints or suggestions. And when my hiatus begins, I'd be more than glad for a few suggestions to pop up. Some ideas for when I get back to writing. Well, that's all. See you next time.***


	21. Thorny Trial 3

** *Author's Note**Welcome to chapter 21. Yeah, the last one was too Pyrrha centric, but you'll see a little more of her for now. A couple of you had an interesting thought; PyrrhaXCardin? Now, what would give you the insane notion that I would do that...? :) Well, the dark swirling mass of psychotic ideas in my head aside, let's get this show on the road***

For the past week now, Pyrrha had been ditching her team quite often. She was hard to track, and nobody could really tell where she was going. After class, on the weekend, and even sometimes at night. She was nowhere to be found. With this happening on a consistent basis, Weiss, Blake, and Nora were starting to feel concerned for Pyrrha.

As it so happened, Pyrrha was out again this night. Where she was? Well, only five people could really tell you. One of the five was Pyrrha herself. The other four were the members of the rather infamous Team CRDL, a team of known bullies. Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, Dove Bronzewing, and Cardin Winchester. For the past week, Pyrrha had been secreting off to meet with them team when possible to discuss their plans to messing with Ruby and possibly breaking her and Jaune up. Each of the five had their own reasons for disliking it. Russel, Sky, and Dove just hated the two being a couple, feeling insecure about Jaune having gotten a girl before they did. Cardin had more of a grudge against Jaune, and couldn't stand to see him happy. And Pyrrha was in love with Jaune and couldn't stand to see him with another girl.

Out of them all, Cardin and Pyrrha had the most intense dislike of the couple, which led to the two often gathering to plot against them, even when the other three aren't available. Over the past week, Pyrrha and Cardin had spent more time together than Ruby and Yang. The entire time, they only discussed various ways to try and trick Ruby, embarrass her, take her out of the game for a while, or get Jaune to look away from her. After a week and a half of planning, plotting, and scheming, they were ready to begin.

Their plan was rather simple, and complicated at the same time. The first phase was to sabotage Ruby's Crescent Rose. With slight knowledge in craftsmanship, Pyrrha was able to create a magazine of special, unstable bullets. While the four guys from CRDL distracted Ruby in the morning, before she could grab her weapon from her locker, Pyrrha would switch out the clips without letting Ruby find out. After this, the plan gets complicated. The goal was to get Ruby in a spar and have her injure herself, taking her out of the game. Almost immediately afterwards, they would pit Jaune against a stronger opponent, like Cardin or Pyrrha. During Jaune's fight, they would try to incapacitate him. Following this, they would make sure the two were put into separate rooms. With them unable to see each other, Pyrrha would swoop in and begin to take care of Jaune. After long enough, Jaune would fall for her and leave Ruby. Simple. Or so they thought.

That day began like any other. Except that as team RAYR was grabbing their gear from the lockers, team CRDL came by and started to harass them. While the team was busy dealing with the four least popular students on campus, Pyrrha quietly snuck behind the rest. Using her high-level control over aura, she masked herself as well as one could. Then using her semblance, pulled on the magnetic metals in Crescent Rose to move it from the locker. Successfully acquiring the weapon, Pyrrha switched out the rounds in the magazine with her homemade ones. After switching them out, she used her semblance again to move the weapon back to it's original place. Confirming the job was done, team CRDL got out and left the rest of the young hunters to their devices.

Fast forward to Goodwitch's class. The students were pairing up for duels today to earn a grade and raise their standing in the class. As usual, nobody wanted anything to do with Ruby. Whether it was her somewhat beast-like fighting style, her insane speed capable of allowing her to leave even the greatest of faunus' vision, or her weapon which was the bastard child of two of the most powerful and sinister weapons ever crafted, an anti-matter sniper rifle and a massive Grim-reaping scythe. Whatever it was, people avoided fighting her as best as they could. And the poor person who got stuck with her was almost always placed in the infirmary. But this time, someone decided to fight her.

"I'll volunteer to face Ruby." Pyrrha decided to pair up with Ruby, earning gasps of shock and awe from her peers. Despite her fame and skill, most of the students in Beacon placed Ruby on a similar level to Pyrrha. Every student in the room had been waiting for this; the fight between the famous Champion from Sanctum, and the wild-child known for her ungodly fighting skill. This fight would be good. Very good. Getting themselves into place, Ruby and Pyrrha set themselves up, getting into their respective stances. On Professor Goodwitch's mark, they began. Or, they would have, had Ruby's weapon not misfired. Bringing her weapon in front of her, Ruby noticed the problem only too late. The rounds in her magazine and the one in her weapon's barrel exploded, knocking her back out of the ring causing Crescent Rose to impale her in the thigh.

"RUBY!" Yang all but mowed down the crowd before her to reach her little sister, pushing and knocking any student unlucky enough to be in her way out with enough force to leave quite a few bruises. Reaching her sister, the older blonde cradled Ruby as she writhed in pain. Pulling the blade from her sister's scythe out of her leg, Yang compacted Crescent Rose to it's gun form, hung it at her waist, and ran with Ruby in her arms to the infirmary at full speed. Even Professor Goodwitch did not try to stop Yang, despite her having left the class, run in the hallways, and injure several students in the process.

Meanwhile, everyone was stunned. Nobody could believe that Ruby Rose, the girl deemed a weapons and combat prodigy, the girl who got accepted into Beacon _two years_ early, the girl who despite her age was given her own team to lead, would have her weapon blow up in her face. Even Pyrrha and team CRDL didn't realize that their plan would be so effective, and even they were shocked at what had just transpired. But they passed it off, and tried to focus on the next part of their plan. Which consisted of getting the now almost-hysteric Jaune to spar with Cardin and become injured himself. If only he used a gun it would have been easier. After long enough, they managed to convince Professor Goodwitch to continue the lesson, getting another duel set up. And they managed to get it to be a match between Cardin and Jaune.

Looking to one another to confirm their plan, Cardin and Pyrrha exchanged a quick and knowing glance. Setting himself up, Cardin stood before an off-looking Jaune. Cardin readied his weapon, preparing to strike down Jaune on Goodwitch's mark. But Cardin didn't realize that Jaune was currently having a maelstrom of emotions swirl in his head. Ruby had just been hurt before him. And he had to deal with this lecture? This was all a pile of bull! The moment Goodwitch gave the mark, Cardin struck. Only, he missed. Completely. Where Jaune was a second ago, there was only empty space. Looking up, Cardin saw that Jaune had put some distance between them. Pulling Crocea Mors from his belt, Jaune readied his sword and his shield. Glaring at Cardin with a look of pure murder in his eyes, Jaune charged forward. Picking himself up, Cardin swung his mace from below, trying to catch Jaune off guard. After having trained with Ruby for so long, Jaune knew how to use his Aura to improve his senses, and gain a better understanding of what was happening around him. Feeling that the mace was coming, Jaune moved his right leg to block the shaft of Cardin's mace, preventing it from moving any further. With Cardin's weapon out of the deal, Jaune pulled his left arm back over his right side, and smashed into Cardin from below with his shield. His natural strength, improved by the weeks of training with Ruby and augmentation via his Aura, had allowe dhim to send the larger male flying out of the combat stage and into the crowd on onlooking students. Walking with haste over to his fallen foe, Jaune butted Cardin with the hilt of his blade, completely knocking him out and leaving him unable to continue.

For the second time in one day, no student in attendance could believe their own eyes. Jaune Arc, known as one of the weakest freshmen, had just decimated Cardin Winchester in just two moves. Not a month earlier was Cardin regularly beating Jaune in sparring matches. Despite this being the first time in several weeks that Goodwitch has had spars in the classroom, nobody could believe that Jaune could make such an improvement so quickly.

"The winner is Mister Arc." After confirming Jaune's victory, Goodwitch moved to ensure Cardin's safety. From the sidelines, Pyrrha began to grow mixed feelings. Not only was she utterly shocked at how much Jaune's fighting skills have improved, but she also felt something towards the now battered and beaten Winchester. A mix of pity and regret? Or some sort of worry? She felt horrible for what had happened to him at the hands of Jaune, but she also felt incredibly turned on by Jaune's seemingly sudden growth. With her feelings confusing the hell out of her, Pyrrha only barely noticed Jaune as he turned and began to walk towards the exit.

"Mister Arc, where do you think you are going?" Pyrrha wasn't the only one who seemed to notice Jaune leaving, as Goodwitch had called out to him seeing his attempt at egress.

"Professor Goodwitch," began Jaune in a tone more serious than Pyrrha or his other friends had ever heard from him before. "I am going to check up on my leader. I can not be here with a clear conscience and remain un worried so long as I don't know her condition. With that being said, may I be excused from class?"

Looking back to Miss Goodwitch, Jaune waited for permission or rejection. After a few second, she nodded her assent and allowed Jaune to leave. The entire time, all Pyrrha could do was watch as Jaune left to be at _her_ side again. Watch as her plan fell through, unable to stop him or keep him to herself. After Jaune had left, Pyrrha's mind was in a slight fog. All she could do was move over to the now recovering Cardin, and show what concern for him she could. She could not gather her own thoughts at the moment. All she could do was sit down with her injured cohort, and try to make some sense of what had gone wrong and what had she not done right.

***Afterword**Writing about Ruby getting injured was almost physically painful, but somehow I soldiered through it. Anyhow, so yeah. Some of you can probably predict how the next chapter will work, more or less. But I plan to make it work, end it with a bit of a bang. I do hope that it doesn't turn out too predictable. Also, I'm going to throw you a bone here. The next chapter will contain ***** ***** ****. Yup, that's right. **** *** ***** **** ******* ****. ** *** ****.***

** *Yeah, right. Did you actually expect me to post a spoiler? :) Well, take a guess or two. You'll likely be able to see what's coming next. As a little challenge, I wonder how many of you can actually guess what those *'s mean. Ahh, whatever. The next chapter won't be too far behind. I'll see you guys then. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter and leave a comment or two if you have any complaints or suggestions. And when my hiatus begins, I'd be more than glad for a few suggestions to pop up. Some ideas for when I get back to writing. Well, that's all. See you next time.***


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